Practice Areas
- Auto, Truck & Motor Vehicle Accidents
- Personal Injury
- Wrongful Death
- Nursing Home Neglect / Abuse
- Product Liability
- Insurance Disputes
- Hurricane Insurance Claim
- Sinkhole Claims
- Commercial Litigation
- Defective Medical Devices
- Asbestos/Mesothelioma
Blog 
Insurance Disputes
- Do You Trust Your Insurance Company?
- Florida Bad Faith Insurance
- State Farm Leaving Homeowners but Keeping Profitable Car Insuranced
- New Property Insurers Come to Florida. Good Deal?
- Don't Skimp on Insurance When Times are Tough
Claims Involving Children
Personal Injury Blog
Read our comments about the latest personal injury news and topics. On this page of our website, we post blogs about a variety of subjects, such as car accident cases, nursing home abuse, insurance disputes, sinkhole claims, hurricane claims, commercial litigation and wrongful death. Our Central Florida accident attorneys represent cases in Orlando, Tampa, Lakeland, Bartow, Sebring, Lake Wales, Haines City, Wauchula and throughout Florida.Insurance Disputes
Do You Trust Your Insurance Company?
Insurance companies have been known to use tactics to deny and delay claims. If you are in the middle of an insurance dispute, you need to contact an Orlando insurance lawyer for advice.Florida Bad Faith Insurance
You purchase insurance as a way to protect against loss and assume that the insurance company will cooperate if ever you have to file a claim. Unfortunately, some Florida insurance claims are unjustly denied. Insurance companies owe a duty to policyholders and must deal fairly with them. The common term used to describe this duty is known as the “implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing.” If an insurer violates this covenant, it could be considered bad faith.
Bad faith insurance describes a tort claim a policyholder may have against an insurer for its bad tactics. In some bad faith insurance cases, the policyholder may be able to recover an amount higher than the original face value of the insurance policy, if the insurer’s behavior was outrageous.
Examples of Florida insurance bad faith include delaying the investigation of a claim, failing to reasonably handle an insurance claim, inadequate investigation, refusing to defend a lawsuit, refusing to offer a reasonable settlement and making threats against the policyholder.
If you have been the victim of bad faith insurance in Florida, contact the Law Offices of Lilly, O’Toole & Brown at (863) 683-1111. The bad faith insurance lawyers at the law firm will be able to advise you on your Florida insurance dispute.
State Farm Leaving Homeowners but Keeping Profitable Car Insuranced
State Farm might just be playing chicken with Charlie Crist and it won't take long to find out. After again being rejected for average increases of 47% for homeowner's insurance State Farm says they are moving out of Florida. But not completely. State Farm, along with every other insurance company that sells automobile insurance in the state, will not let go of auto. Insurance companies make huge profits on automobile insurance and would never willingly let go of that business. And why should they? There is no law against making a profit and there should not be one. But it is a shame that after raising rates after Hurricane Andrew devastated Miami, the various insurance companies did not create a reserve fund when the inevitable next hurricane hit. And with the stock market doing so badly right now, the money they have invested in the market for years will not allow them the chance to keep premiums where they are. Truly a sad time for Floridians to have to make a choice.New Property Insurers Come to Florida. Good Deal?
Recently there has been a lot of interest by insurance companies seeking to enter the policy arena of the Sunshine State. Citizen's Property Insurance, the state run insurance program, is actively seeking insurance companies to come to Florida and relieve some of the burden on what has become Florida's largest property insurer. As with everything there is some good news and some bad. With more companies entering this competitive market it is hoped that insurance rates would come down. While insurance companies may promise to do such a thing, there is nothing like competition to force the issue and make them adjust rates and premiums to make sure they don't lose the business they have. The bad news is the companies that are coming in. Of 14 listed only one had been ranked by a national service and its ranking was "weak". Currently it appears to make sense for those people who have policies with Citizen's to remain with Citizen's. If one goes with the other companies and there is a major disaster the company may go under before a claim is paid. With Citizen's the claim will be paid, even if it means taxing the general public to do it. Better to pay a little more in premiums for a lot more peace of mind.ALLSTATE SUSPENDED FROM ADDING POLICIES
In an unprecedented move the State of Florida has suspended Allstate Insurance Company and two of its subsidiaries from issuing new policies in automobile insurance. Apparently the “Good Hands People” aren’t willing to provide the insurance commissioner with a reasonable explanation for a rate increase request of up to 42% on homeowner policies when there has been no major hurricane event in the state for the past two years. Governor Crist has made it clear that insurance rates are too high in Florida , hopefully this will help these companies understand they can’t take consumers for granted. As a result of the Insurance Commissioner’s request for more information on why the rate request is so high, apparently Allstate has decided to either lower their rate request or withdraw it completely.
Allstate being called onto the carpet...
Allstate is being called onto the carpet because they think they can treat the insurance commissioner the way they treat their insureds or people who sue their insured. Allstate believes (usually rightly so) that they have the money and the time and the resources necessary to outlast any private attorney who takes them on. I believe they are attempting to use the same tactics with the State of Florida. The difference is if I sue them and get a nice verdict for a client then they simply pay that out of reserves, not a huge deal. But you can't fight city hall. The insurance commissioner just wielded his power and is going to cost them millions. It will be interesting to see if Allstate ever provides those documents they claim are "irrelevant".
No Policies to be written by Allstate
Allstate has now been told by the Insurance Commissioner in Florida that no policies will be written in this state by Allstate until they fully comply with the state subpoena and provide all the documents. Allstate is dealing with this same issue in Missouri where they are racking up $25,000 PER DAY fines. They refuse to provide the documents, refuse to pay the fine and I assume just consider the fine a cost of doing business. They will probably react differently in Florida and will probably file an injunction against the state. Stay tuned to this one, it is not going away anytime soon.
Allstate Insurance Company Suspended From Writing Policies in Florida, AGAIN
Allstate refuses to comply with an order from the Insurance Commissioner in Florida to provide documents showing how Allstate determines what rates to charge for insurance. Instead of complying with the order Allstate sued to prevent disclosure of the information and allow Allstate to keep selling policies while thumbing their nose at the Insurance Commissioner.The appellate court in Tallahassee agreed with the Insurance Commissioner and has ordered Allstate to cease writing any new policies in Florida until Allstate complies with the records request.
Lilly, O’Toole & Brown deals with insurance companies on a daily basis. With almost 200 years of experience our lawyers know how to handle insurance companies.
ALLSTATE FINALLY GIVES IN, GIVES GOVERNMENT SECRET DOCUMENTS
Allstate finally decided to fess up about their rate determination and gave the State of Florida at least most of the documents requested.
Allstate was very reluctant to provide the requested documents, going so far as to provide hundreds upon hundreds of pages not related to what state investigators were seeking in an attempt to flood the investigators into giving up. Allstate also provided pages of objections, deciding on their own that certain documents were just not necessary for the state to finish its investigation.
Department of Insurance investigators disagreed and ordered Allstate to stop issuing new policies. Rather than cooperate, Allstate decided to litigate. And lost. Now with potentially millions of dollars lost and no new policies to issue, Allstate decided to cooperate. According to the State of Florida, Allstate is currently cooperating, but investigators will keep a close eye on things. Are you in good hands?
10 Worst Insurance Companies
The American Association for Justice (AAJ) has a list of the ten worst insurance companies in America.
Topping this list - Allstate. We've blogged before about Allstate, several times, so it comes as no surprise to us that the "good hands" people made it to the top of this list.
Others on the list were:
2. Unum
3. AIG
4. State Farm
5. Conseco
6. WellPoint
7. Farmers
8. UnitedHealth
9. Torchmark
10. Liberty Mutual
The full report is worth reading, and gives a 2-3 page synopsis of why each insurer made the list. Unfortunately, most insurance companies put profits over people and no longer deal fairly with their policyholders. The American Association for Justice concludes with three policy reforms that would benefit insurance purchasers:
1. Requires that all insurers work in good faith with customers.
2. Establish an insurance consumer advocate.
3. Require approval for rate increases.
Allstate Ranked No. 1 -- For Complaints
The American Associaton for Justice has listed Allstate as the worst insurance company in the United States.
Allstate has achieved this dubious honor by raising premiums, denying claims and refusing to provide insurance to those who need it most. The Association looked at documents from all over the United States, including court documents, SEC records, news accounts and also spoke to former insurance agents and adjusters.
The Association listed the worst ten offenders, but Allstate stood above the crowd. With profits of more than $4.6 BILLION in 2007, Allstate has found a way to delay and deny claims that other insurance companies can only look on in envy. As an example, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Louisiana Department of Insurance received almost twice as many complaints about Allstate’s adjusting policies (1,200) as the next offender, State Farm (700).
Personal Injury Protection Insurance Is There to Protect You, Regardless of Fault
Attorneys at Lilly, O’Toole & Brown have a question asked quite often involving car crashes. If the other person caused the crash, why is the client’s insurance company having to pay for the client’s medical treatment?Generally, owners of vehicles are required by Florida law to have Personal Injury Protection coverage as a part of their policy. Commonly referred to as “no fault” coverage, in essence it means the fault of the parties is not considered for this coverage.
If you have the coverage it provides for payment of a percentage of medical bills and lost wages related to the car crash. So in the payment of no fault benefits who is at fault makes no difference.
Lilly, O’Toole & Brown is aware that most injuries cause medical bills well in excess of most people’s Personal Injury Protection limits. That is when the right attorney can make a difference in how medical bills and lost wages will be covered in the future.
Don't Skimp on Insurance When Times are Tough
For a lot of Americans the times are troubled. The economy is reported to be in bad shape and many thousands of people have lost their jobs. A small ray of sunshine exists at the gas pump, where prices have come down from around four dollars a gallon to less than two dollars a gallon for regular unleaded. But with uncertain economic times we are all looking for ways to save a little cash here and there. One place we definitely don't want to cut back is our insurance coverage. Without proper insurance coverage, that rainy day can turn into a monsoon. Think about this: on your way to that job you are desperately trying to hold on to you are struck by an uninsured motorist. With uninsured motorist coverage you will have the opportunity to recover some of that time lost from work and medical bills but if you decided to cancel that coverage because it would save you around $75, you have made a losing bet. Some people will shop on line for coverage and look for a better deal, which is a great way to make sure you are getting the most for your money. But don't let that computer or person convince you the way to pay less is to get rid of some coverage. That coverage is money well spent when you need it, because you won't get it anywhere else. It is also money well spent if you don't end up using it, because peace of mind knowing it is there for you is priceless.Medical Malpractice Insurers Profit from Misleading Information
The Lakeland Ledger published a letter from B.D. Ballard who was upset about medical malpractice. Ballard (unknown if Ballard is male or female) was rushed to a hospital emergency room where a pacemaker was installed. According to Ballard, this was not done properly and Ballard has contacted two law offices about this issue. Both have been unable to help Ballard because of a 2002 law change that effectively shuts off any chance of recovery for a patient who suffers medical malpractice in an emergency room setting without death or close to it.When this law was being debated medical lobbyists claimed doctors were leaving Florida in droves (not true), that malpractice insurance was skyrocketing (not true), and that malpractice insurance companies were leaving the state (again, not true). In fact, when forced to testify under oath the insurance company big wigs had to admit they were making money in Florida, that doctors were not leaving in droves and malpractice carriers were applying to provide coverage in Florida. The insurance companies just wanted to make sure they could get their premiums but shut down any chance of having to pay anything out.
Lilly, O'Toole & Brown, LLP
Lakeland Office: (863) 683-1111
Bartow Office: (863) 533-5525
Sebring Office: (863) 471-0003
Lake Wales Office: (863) 676-1991
Haines City Office: (863) 422-1282
Wauchula Office: (863) 767-1111
Winter Haven Office (863) 294-8100
Also providing legal assistance to clients from:
Wauchula, Lake Placid, Avon Park, Plant City, Brandon, and Valrico, Florida.
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Lakeland Office
800 S. Florida Ave.
Lakeland, FL 33801
Phone: (863) 683-1111
Fax: (863) 683-0915
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Sebring Office
2154 Lakeview Drive
Sebring, FL 33870
Phone: (863) 471-0003
Fax: (863) 471-2034
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Bartow Office
310 E. Main Street
Bartow, FL 33830
Phone: (863) 533-5525
Fax: (863) 533-0505
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Lake Wales Office
815 S.R. 60 East
Lake Wales, FL 33853
Phone: (863) 676-1991
Fax: (863) 676-3873
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Winter Haven
70 Fourth Street N.W.
Winter Haven, FL 33881
Phone: (863) 294-8100
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