Universal Property Settles Claims of Fla Insurance Fraud

Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company will not receive more than $30 million that it sought in allegedly fraudulent insurance claims in Florida after settling a civil suit tied to the matter.

The settlement resolves allegations that Fort Lauderdale-based Universal Property violated Florida law by securing reimbursement for ineligible claims, according to a press release. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier’s office said it’s the first time the attorney general has secured repayment in an insurance fraud case.

Universal Property & Casualty agreed to pay more than $4 million in fines, plus $2.4 million in legal fees for a total of about $6.5 million. Its parent company, Universal Insurance Holdings, said in its own release that it refuted all allegations of fraud related to Hurricane Irma in 2017.

A whistleblower’s lawsuit in Leon County led to the attorney general’s office launching its own investigation.

The reimbursement of more than $30 million to Universal Property & Casualty would have come from the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, which pays residential property insurance companies a portion of their payments to homeowners for hurricane damage.

For decades, property owners have been grappling with soaring insurance costs, which have only intensified as a result of worsening global disasters such as hurricanes and wildfires. Florida has suffered from a spate of hurricanes in the last decade, including Irma, Ian, Milton, Helene and Idalia, though South Florida has largely been spared.
Last month, Florida lawmakers grilled state insurance regulators about a report that showed insurers funneled billions of dollars to affiliates between 2017 and 2019 while they claimed to lose money, the Tampa Bay Times reported. Former Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier commissioned the report, but after he abruptly left his post to become a lobbyist, it was left in draft form. It was never turned over to the legislature because it was unfinished, regulators said.