State regulators levy $500K in fines against two insurers for Ian, Idalia claim issues

Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation has fined a pair of insurers $250,000 each for how the companies handled claims following hurricanes in 2022 and 2023.

The fines against Kin Interinsurance Network and Slide Insurance Co. close out an investigation of 10 companies over the entities' claims-handling operations after Hurricanes Ian in 2022 and Idalia in 2023 that ORI says in a statement resulted “in several findings that violate Florida’s Insurance Code and penalties amounting to” $2.57 million.

In September, it fined eight insurers, including three local ones, a total of $2.07 million for how those firms handled claims.

The latest $250,000 fines are against two companies with ties to Tampa.

Slide is based in Tampa. As for Kin, according to its website Kin Insurance is based in Chicago and Kin Interinsurance has its principal office in St. Petersburg.

Among the findings from OIR’s Market Conduct Unit, Kin allegedly failed to provide disclosure statements for both hurricanes and failed to pay or deny claims within 90 days for Hurricane Ian.

The findings from regulators contend that in 19.9% of the Ian claims it reviewed, Kin did not include a disclosure statement with the preliminary or partial estimate of damage. And that in 26.9% of the claims reviewed, Kin did not, when providing a payment on a claim that was not the full and final payment, include a disclosure statement.

As for Idalia claims, OIR found that in 19.4% of cases Kin also did not include a disclosure statement when providing a payment on a claim that was not the full and final payment.

Kin, in a detailed statement from a spokesperson, says that once it was notified of the findings the company worked with OIR to address and correct all of the issues.

“The vast majority of these findings were technical in nature, such as not bolding text that should have been bolded or using disclosure language that did not match the exact required language. A small number of claims exceeded the 90-day processing rule due to delays from third-party vendors,” the spokesperson wrote in the statement.

“We regret the technical discrepancies but are comforted by the fact that none of our errors caused financial harm to our customers, which is the most important factor to Kin.”

In its investigation of Slide, the Market Conduct Unit found that the company used unappointed adjusters and failed to provide disclosure statements for both Hurricanes Ian and Idalia.

The finding alleges that after Ian the company did not include disclosure statements when providing preliminary or partial estimate damages in 12.7% of the claims it examined.

Investigators also found that in 16.4% of the Ian claims it looked at the company did not include a disclosure statement when providing a payment on a claim that was not the full and final payment.

In claims following Idalia, in 12.8% of the claims the unit looked at, Slide used adjusters who were not properly appointed and in 36.9% of the claims examined did not include a disclosure statement when providing a payment on a claim that was not the full and final payment.

A spokesperson for Slide says in an email that the company has no further comment.