Plus, former condo manager arrested for fraud
Florida farmers await a cold weather disaster declaration from federal agriculture officials, regulators announce another drop in Florida auto insurance rates, and a former South Florida condominium property manager is accused of a nearly $1 million forgery scheme against residents. It’s all in this week’s Property Insurance News.
Blueberry bushes at Southern Hills Farm in Lake County, Florida under a coating of sprinkler-created ice to insulate the plants from deep freezing, February 1, 2026. Courtesy, Meteorologist Jessica Dobson, Fox 35 Orlando via Facebook
BRRR!: Cold records were broken or tied at all reporting sites in the Orlando area yesterday morning (Sunday, February 1) and were forecast to do the same this morning. Orlando’s low of 24 degrees on Sunday broke the previous record of 28 degrees in 1936. Daily records were broken from the coasts of Daytona Beach, Melbourne, and Vero Beach deep inland to Leesburg and Orlando – part of Florida’s prime farm country.
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson on Friday asked his federal counterpart for a disaster declaration because of potential crop damage from the cold and the expected high winds and single-digit wind chills that became a reality. “Florida’s producers are taking every possible step to protect their operations, but the severity of this storm will result in losses that require swift federal support,” Simpson wrote to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. Forecasters project “widespread frost” again tonight (Monday, February 2). Sub-freezing temperatures stretched as far south as Collier County on the Gulf Coast and Broward County on the Atlantic Coast, along with a few fleeting snow flurries. Florida’s winter crops include avocados, bell pepper, broccoli, celery, corn, cucumbers, radishes, strawberries, cabbage and of course, citrus.
Florida Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky, Courtesy, OIR
Auto Insurance Rate Cut: Florida Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky last week announced yet another rate decrease: this one is USAA, which filed for an average 7% rate cut that will take effect by May 2026, resulting in more than $125 million in estimated annual savings for USAA’s Florida members. It joins 41 other auto carriers that have cut rates in the last year. USAA attributes the decrease to Florida’s strong legislative reforms of 2022 and 2023. The sentiment is echoed in this Tampa Bay Business Journal guest column: Florida’s tort reform triumph is at risk — don’t undo what works by Tom Gaitens, Executive Director of Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse. In it, he references “recent signals that House leadership may seek to repeal or weaken key components of these reforms during the 2026 legislative session.”
It’s the same constant (and needed) reminder that Commissioner Yaworsky makes. He understands the balance between insurance regulation and consumer protection. “Our top priority is, believe it or not, despite the successes we have had in stabilizing the property insurance marketplace and preventing those 40, 50, 60 percent increases that people saw over the past couple years, there are still some legislators, other people and stakeholders that want to repeal that and go back to the old system,” Yaworsky told the News Service of Florida in a recent interview. “It’s kind of amazing and surprising to me. I’m just a policy guy trying to make sure we have a good marketplace. I think our priority is going to be defending that space, so we don’t go back to that place where we are almost spending billions of dollars subsidizing some bad-acting trial attorneys, at the cost of everyone. I think that’d be detrimental policy for the state.”
Michael Christopher Curtis mugshot. Courtesy, Pembroke Pines Police Dept.
Condominium HOA Fraud: Pembroke Pines Police have announced an arrest in a multi-year fraud investigation that uncovered hundreds of thousands of dollars of stolen money from the Windmill Lakes Condominium Community. The former property manager, 38-year-old Michael Christopher Curtis, is charged with forging signatures on more than 350 checks and legal documents pertaining to the homeowners association. After receiving complaints from homeowners, detectives found property management irregularities, lapsed insurance coverage, missing or improper board elections, and a forgery scheme involving stolen association funds. During the review of records, detectives found an insurance payment intended for hurricane disaster relief that included a management fee payable to Curtis that was $46,000 beyond the eligible payment. Police say the entire investigation found Curtis unlawfully obtained nearly $600,000 “and it is believed other unauthorized payments could exceed $1,000,000.” The Sun Sentinel reports Curtis has two other criminal cases pending against him for stealing money from Fairways of Sunrise and misappropriating funds of the Colonies Two Condo Association in Lauderdale Lakes. You can also read what condo residents are saying in this Daily Mail story.
LMA Newsletter of 2-2-26
