American Ins. Ass'n v. Florida Dept. of Ins.

646 So. 2d 784, 1994 WL 665767
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedNovember 30, 1994
Docket94-1211, 94-1214 and 94-1178
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 646 So. 2d 784 (American Ins. Ass'n v. Florida Dept. of Ins.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
American Ins. Ass'n v. Florida Dept. of Ins., 646 So. 2d 784, 1994 WL 665767 (Fla. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

646 So.2d 784 (1994)

AMERICAN INSURANCE ASSOCIATION, National Association of Independent Insurers, and Florida Windstorm Underwriting Association, Appellants,
v.
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF INSURANCE and Florida Property and Casualty Joint Underwriting Association, Appellees.

Nos. 94-1211, 94-1214 and 94-1178.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

November 30, 1994.

*785 Caleb L. Fowler, Washington, DC, and Thomas J. Jones and Susan L. Turner, Holland & Knight, Tallahassee, for appellant American Ins. Ass'n.

Vincent J. Rio, III and Mark K. Delegal of Taylor, Day & Rio, Tallahassee, for appellant Nat. Ass'n of Independent Insurers.

Christine R. Milton of Mahoney, Adams & Criser, Jacksonville and J. Riley Davis and David A. Yon, and Daniel C. Brown of Katz, Kutter, Haigler, Alderman, Marks & Bryant, Tallahassee, for appellant Florida Windstorm Underwriting Ass'n.

William O'Neil, Daniel Y. Sumner, Dennis Silverman and Robert Prentiss, Dept. of Ins., for appellee the Florida Dept. of Ins.

Michael Colodny and Doris Vigo of Colodny, Fass & Talenfeld, Ft. Lauderdale, for appellee Florida Property and Cas. Joint Underwriting Ass'n.

Stephen C. Burgess, Ins. Consumer Advocate, Tallahassee, Intervenor.

KAHN, Judge.

These consolidated appeals are from an Immediate Final Order (IFO) issued by the Department of Insurance (DOI) to the Florida Windstorm Underwriting Association (FWUA) and the Florida Property and Casualty Joint Underwriting Association (FPCJUA) regarding windstorm coverage. Appellants contend, among other things, that (1) the order did not sufficiently articulate an emergency and no emergency existed and (2) even if the order sufficiently articulated an emergency, the order violates the governing statute, section 627.351(2), Florida Statutes. We agree and reverse.

The legislature created FWUA, a joint underwriting association composed of property insurers licensed to do business in Florida, in 1970 because the voluntary market was unable to provide windstorm-only insurance in Florida's high-risk coastal area. § 627.351, Fla. Stat. (1970). By statute, all insurers licensed to transact property insurance on a direct basis in this state must belong to FWUA and must provide windstorm coverage to applicants from areas determined to be eligible,[1] who are in good faith entitled to, but unable to, procure such coverage through ordinary means. § 627.351(2), Fla. Stat. Member insurers are required to pay for the association's losses through assessments. FWUA's Plan of Operation, which was approved by DOI, limits the maximum coverage available to one million dollars ($1,000,000) per residential commercial structure. Such structures include apartment buildings and residential condominiums.

On August 24, 1992, Hurricane Andrew struck Florida and caused eighteen billion dollars ($18,000,000,000) in insured losses. Many insurers attempted to withdraw from the state. DOI, by enactment of emergency rules, prevented licensed insurers from cancelling residential policies. No such protection existed for commercial policies, and by *786 early 1993, consumers began reporting that licensed insurance companies had ceased writing all together. Unauthorized insurers known as surplus line carriers[2] took the place of licensed carriers and offered coverage conditioned upon significant premium increases. DOI, by order entered in February 1993, expanded the areas eligible for FWUA's coverage from the traditionally underwritten property 1000 feet from the ocean to those areas in Dade and Broward counties east of I-95. This order virtually doubled the geographical area eligible for FWUA coverage. In an effort to further alleviate the mounting problem of unavailability of adequate coverage for commercial lines, the Florida Legislature, through passage of Chapter 92-345, Laws of Florida, eliminated the eligibility requirements for coverage under FWUA and thereby established a statewide ability of FWUA to provide some forms of windstorm coverage. However, in enacting Chapter 93-401, Laws of Florida, in June, the legislature readopted the eligibility criteria and created the Study Commission on Property Insurance which was charged with examining the feasibility of providing coverage to commercial risks through the FPCJUA. Ch. 93-401, § 2, at 2883, § 3, at 2884, Laws of Fla.; § 627.351, Fla. Stat. (Supp. 1992).

During the November, 1993 special session, the legislature sought to make additional insurance available for residential commercial structures that could not obtain such insurance in the voluntary market. The legislature activated FPCJUA, a joint underwriting association, as a temporary means of addressing the problem and provided a two-year sunset provision. Ch. 93-410, § 14, at 23-29, Laws of Fla. (codified by 627.351(5), Fla. Stat. (Supp. 1994)).[3] All insurers authorized in this state to write property insurance, as defined in section 624.604, or casualty insurance, as defined in section 624.605, are required by section 627.351(5) to be members of FPCJUA. The FPCJUA, through its member insurance companies, writes property and casualty insurance to eligible persons who are in good faith entitled to such coverage, but are unable to obtain such property or casualty insurance *787 coverage, including excess coverage, through the voluntary market. Section 627.351(5), as amended in November 1993, required DOI to adopt by rule a joint underwriting plan for FPCJUA and prohibited FPCJUA from underwriting "the types of insurance for which ... [a] joint underwriting plan is authorized under ... subsection (2) [i.e., windstorm coverage through FWUA]... ." Significantly, the legislature did not amend the statutory mandate for FWUA's coverage or for the separation of FPCJUA from FWUA and other risk apportionment pools.

On April 5, 1994, DOI, pursuant to section 120.59(3), issued an Immediate Final Order (IFO) directed to FPCJUA and FWUA. The order adopted on an emergency basis FPCJUA's Manual of Rules of Practice and Rates and Rate Procedures including a portion which permitted FPCJUA to provide windstorm insurance coverage in areas of this state formerly exclusively served by the FWUA. The order provides, in part:

In FWUA eligible areas seaward of the intracoastal waterway including all of Monroe County, the FPCJUA policy will provide limits for windstorm and hail coverage in excess of $1,000,000 on each separately described building and/or its contents.
In all other areas including in land from the intracoastal waterway in FWUA eligible areas, the FPCJUA will write primary windstorm and hail coverage.

The IFO requires that in all FWUA eligible areas seaward of the Intracoastal Waterway, FPCJUA policies must immediately provide coverage for windstorm in excess of the $1,000,000 written by FWUA, and in all other FWUA eligible areas (inland of the Intracoastal), FPCJUA must write primary windstorm coverage. The order is silent on whether DOI intends to revoke FWUA's authorization to provide windstorm coverage in these inland areas or merely supplement it with FPCJUA's primary coverage that includes windstorm. The order also instructed FPCJUA and FWUA to meet and submit a joint written plan of consolidated rates, forms, coverages and underwriting guidelines, including the feasibility of using single policies under which FPCJUA would furnish all primary insurance on residential commercial structures and FWUA would reinsure the windstorm risk. DOI extended the deadline for compliance to July 5, 1994.

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Bluebook (online)
646 So. 2d 784, 1994 WL 665767, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-ins-assn-v-florida-dept-of-ins-fladistctapp-1994.