Florida’s sinkhole issues have hit the national news. In an article in today’s Wall Street Journal, "Sinkhole Claims Threaten To Engulf Florida Insurers," the public adjusting industry takes some hard hits.
For example, Florida’s insurance commissioner, Kevin McCarty, analogized public adjusters who are looking to sign up sinkhole claims as playing the game "Whac-A- Mole." In response, Tim Zeak, of Florida Public Adjusting, blamed the increase of claims on development in known sinkhole prone areas.
The ability of the insurance industry to get this story into the mainstream media certainly raises the spector of significant change at the regulatory and legislative level. Those changes remain to be seen. It is certain, however, that we cannot continue to incur such frequent and severe losses without changes in coverage, if sinkhole coverage is to remain at all.
