July 1, 2022

Citizen’s Property Insurance facing 900 new lawsuits a month

One month after state lawmakers were summoned back to Tallahassee to fix Florida’s broken homeowner’s insurance industry, the crisis continues.

“As we sit here today, we are just under 19,000, but quickly approaching 19,000 lawsuits,” said Elaina Paskalakis of Citizen’s Property Insurance, during a claims committee meeting earlier this month.

Citizens, the sate-backed insurer of last resort isn’t just facing mounting litigation, it is also absorbing some 12,000 policies a month.

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“Last year at this time they (Citizens) were growing at about 5,000 policies a week, so they are growing exponentially more,” says State Senator Jeff Brandes (R-Pinellas). “They have about $6 billion in cash and about $300 billion in potential liability if they have a big storm.”

With police and lawsuits piling up, Citizens recently approved $50 million for litigation costs, with the state-backed insurer set to approve another $50 million when it meets again in July.

“It is all hands on deck at Citizens, and frankly I don’t know how they are going to manage all this, we would never let a private insurance company grow as fast as citizens is growing right now,” says Brandes.

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Everything you need to know before July 4th

CINCINNATI (WXIX) – A new fireworks law goes into effect July 3 across Ohio, but not all fireworks are legal everywhere, and exceptions apply.

The law newly allows people to set off “consumer fireworks” on their own property or on another person’s property with permission.

Consumer fireworks are sandwiched in the middle of Ohio’s fireworks classifications between “trick fireworks” and “display fireworks.”

Trick fireworks

Trick fireworks (or “novelty fireworks”) are smoke bombs, snaps, glow snakes and sparklers. For the most part, these fireworks can be purchased anywhere and used anytime, but some local communities have passed ordinances that prevent even these from being sold.

In jurisdictions where novelty fireworks are allowed, the State Fire Marshal urges extreme caution.

“While legal, these can still pose serious health problems, including severe burns, injuries to the hands, eyes and face, and even blindness or hearing loss. For example, sparklers burn at up to 1800°, hot enough to melt gold. The risk of severe burns is real. In addition, puncture-type injuries to the eye are not uncommon,” a DOC spokesperson says.

The City of Cincinnati permits these fireworks, but a decades-old ordinance remains in effect prohibiting consumer fireworks, meaning

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