Today’s video is on making a claim with Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. One of the biggest challenge I face as a property insurance lawyer in the state of Florida is facing down Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. Who is that? Well, Citizens was formed by the state of Florida several years ago due to the fact that several insurance companies left after several heavy storm seasons.

Storm Damage Insurance Claims – Citizens Insurance

Now Citizens sometimes likes to act like they’re not an insurance company. Sometimes they like to refer to themselves as a Not-For-Profit Corporation. Well let me let you in on something: if you actually read the law that created Citizens, Citizens not only is an insurance company but they have to act like an insurance company. Now during the several years that I’ve represented policy holders, decades of representing policy holders, Citizens has turned out to be one of the most aggressive. Not necessarily because of the tactics they use, but because of how bloated and slow they move through virtually everything that they do. We’ve had claims with Citizens where Citizens has admitted that they were obligated to pay a claim, yet took three, four, and five years before they finally stroke the check to the insurers. Many times they’re responsible for insuring condominium associations because so many condo insurance companies no longer exist. But Citizens would often times use that as a reason to delay payment or try to use their authority over many of their vendors to limit the coverage that’s afforded under virtually all of these insurance policies. We take Citizens to the mat every single day when we go to work. Citizens wants to pretend that they don’t have to act like an insurance company because they’re reporting to the governor of Florida, but I say no. They’re responsible to their individual insurers, and they’re responsible to property insurance lawyers just like me. If you’re a property insured with Citizens, your rights are just the same as if you were working with a private entity. If you’re a Citizens insured or have questions about Citizen’s coverage, please go to our website at www.CorlessBarfield.com or give us a call. You take care of your property, and we’ll take care of Citizens.