“The governor’s veto is really the first major disaster of the 2009 hurricane season,” says Corless, who has spent the last decade representing Florida homeowners as well as many insurance companies from St. John’s to Nationwide. “This time, however, the insurance companies won’t be able to help. Instead, they’re being forced out.”

HB 1171, known as the Consumer Choice Act, would have let the state offer unregulated property insurance rates. Companies like State Farm need deregulation to ensure it can handle the risk it must take on in the current environment. Without deregulation, Crist has acknowledged major carriers would be financially forced to leave and has even said ‘good riddance.’

The system left in place makes insurance companies go ‘hat in hand’ to the government seeking rate adjustments, instead of letting the market set a price. These requests often meet resistance from the political winds in Tallahassee. As such, without this legislation and the flexibility it provides, more than one million property owners could be left without insurance and that’s just if State Farm leaves. Millions more could be affected over the next few years.

“Smaller, newer companies are swarming the state with little or no experience and often operating bureaus from outside the state,” says Croless of Corless Zinober. “Citizens insurance is already in trouble and with the economy in shambles it will hardly be ready for even a minor storm. This action comes at exactly the wrong time.”

If State Farm leaves, which is widely expected, Florida will be the only state in the country where State Farm doesn’t write property insurance policies. According to Corless, other major carriers will soon be forced to follow as they, too, won’t be able to mitigate their risks without some necessary rate increases.

“The governor says he’s protecting the consumers’ choice but, in reality, he’s making it for them,” Corless said. “In a free market, all companies would be available to property owners and if a homeowner doesn’t like the price, he or she moves on. This veto limits those options and ties the hands of the blue-chip companies. The net result will be smaller, less reliable companies and more people turning to Citizens as the insurer of last resort and we all know who pays for that.”

For more information on Florida property insurance lawyer Ted Corless, please visit: http://thepublicityagency.com/ted_corless.html

Corless is available for live talkbacks and interviews in person or by phone. To schedule an interview with Ted Corless, please use the media contact information below.

Media Contact: 
Justin Herndon
Email:  justin@thepublicityagency.com
cell:  (813) 528-6815

About Ted Corless: Ted Corless, Esq. has represented major insurance companies and homeowners for more than 10 years. He is recognized as one of the leading property insurance attorneys in Florida, having previously represented most of Florida's largest property insurers in over 1,000 property insurance disputes, including damage associated with sinkhole, windstorm, fire, and blasting activities.  He has trained hundreds of insurance adjusters and speaks regularly on the topic of educating the public and assisting with insurance legislation. He holds a bachelors and law degree from the University of Missouri and is licensed to practice in Florida, Kansas and Missouri.