LMA NEWSLETTER March 6, 2023

Bedside Manner

We love our doctors who have bedside manners!  In fact we sometimes comment about physicians based on how we connect with them and if we believe they have our best interest as their priority.

It was this preference that I used as the basis for the adjuster training session a team of us presented recently …

Emergency Assessment Pending

Plus, a new dispute on one-way attorney fees

Florida’s latest property insurance company insolvency may likely trigger the first emergency assessment on the industry since Hurricane Andrew, new questions being raised in courtrooms on how to apply the recent one-way attorney fee statute reform, the renewed fight against third-party litigation financing, plus new rules take …

Bill Watch

Start of the 2023 legislative session

Florida’s 40 state Senators and 119 state Representatives (the 120th seat is open pending a special election) return to Tallahassee today to begin the regular 60-day legislative session.  The Senate and House chambers will meet in joint session tomorrow (March 7) at 11am to welcome the Governor for …

Hurricane Response & Preparedness

Florida Senate releases its plan

The first of a series of proposals has been released by the Florida Legislature to help the state recover from the 2022 hurricanes and better prepare for and recover from future storms.  It includes measures to improve debris removal, streamline building permits, and permanently fund local government emergency loans.  The …

Affordable Housing Measure Ready for a Vote

Helping Floridians live near their work

A proposal to improve affordable housing in Florida and allow workers to live closer to their big-city jobs is now headed to the full Florida Senate for consideration.  It’s part of priority legislation this session by Senate President Kathleen Passidomo (R-Naples).   A Florida Housing Finance Corporation survey found that …

Lawyer Took the Money and Ran

Plus, the fight against auto AOB fraud

A Pinellas County personal injury lawyer suspended from practice in December is now under arrest, accused of accepting and keeping for himself more than $850,000 in insurance settlement payments.  Plus, Florida’s automobile insurance industry gets some welcome help in its fight against Assignment of Benefits (AOB) auto windshield …

Red Tide Worsening

Plus, higher seawalls & condo repairs

The annual Red Tide is getting worse along the Gulf of Mexico beaches, Fort Lauderdale is poised to go along with new tougher seawall requirements together with stiff fines for homeowners, and residents of a Miami high-rise condo displaced by unsafe conditions have returned to their homes after more …

Remote Work …or Not?

Do you work from home?  Do you go to the office a couple times a week as a “hybrid” worker?  The executives I have been chatting with are torn about whether to continue to allow employees to work from home or not.  Questions arise as to whether allowing remote work improves recruitment and retention. Does …