624.418 Suspension, revocation of certificate of authority for violations and special grounds.—
(1) The office shall suspend or revoke an insurer’s certificate of authority if it finds that the insurer:
(a) Is in unsound financial condition.
(b) Is using such methods and practices in the conduct of its business as to render its further transaction of insurance in this state hazardous or injurious to its policyholders or to the public.
(c) Has failed to pay any final judgment rendered against it in this state within 60 days after the judgment became final.
(d) No longer meets the requirements for the authority originally granted.
(2) The office may, in its discretion, suspend or revoke the certificate of authority of an insurer if it finds that the insurer:
(a) Has violated any lawful order or rule of the office or commission or any provision of this code.
(b) Has refused to be examined or to produce its accounts, records, and files for examination, or if any of its officers have refused to give information with respect to its affairs or to perform any other legal obligation as to such examination, when required by the office.
(c) Has for any line, class, or combination thereof, with such frequency as to indicate its general business practice in this state, without just cause:
1. Refused to pay proper claims arising under its policies, whether any such claim is in favor of an insured or is in favor of a third person with respect to the liability of an insured to such third person, or without just cause compels such insureds or claimants to accept less than the amount due them or to employ attorneys or to bring suit against the insurer or such an insured to secure full payment or settlement of such claims; or
2. Compelled insureds to participate in appraisal under a property insurance policy in order to secure full payment or settlement of such claims.
(d) Is affiliated with and under the same general management or interlocking directorate or ownership as another insurer which transacts direct insurance in this state without having a certificate of authority therefor, except as permitted as to surplus lines insurers under part VIII of chapter 626.
(e) Has been convicted of, or entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere to, a felony relating to the transaction of insurance, in this state or in any other state, without regard to whether adjudication was withheld.
(f) Has a ratio of net premiums written to surplus as to policyholders that exceeds 4 to 1, and the office has reason to believe that the financial condition of the insurer endangers the interests of the policyholders. The ratio of net premiums written to surplus as to policyholders shall be on an annualized actual or projected basis. The ratio shall be based on the insurer’s current calendar year activities and experience to date or the insurer’s previous calendar year activities and experience, or both, and shall be calculated to represent a 12-month period. However, the provisions of this paragraph do not apply to any insurance or insurer exempted from s. 624.4095.
(g) Is under suspension or revocation in another state.
(3) The insolvency or impairment of an insurer constitutes an immediate serious danger to the public health, safety, or welfare; and the office may, at its discretion, without prior notice and the opportunity for hearing immediately suspend the certificate of authority of an insurer upon a determination that:
(a) The insurer is impaired or insolvent; or
(b) Receivership, conservatorship, rehabilitation, or other delinquency proceedings have been initiated against the insurer by the public insurance supervisory official of any state.
...The Department may suspend or revoke an insurer's certificate if the insurance company "[i]s using such methods and practices in the conduct of its business as to render its further transaction of insurance in this state hazardous or injurious to its policyholders or to the public." § 624.418(1)(b), Fla.Stat....
...tion 624.404(3)(a), Florida Statutes (1995), or amount to "using such methods and practices in the conduct of its business as to render its further transaction of insurance in this state hazardous or injurious to its policyholders or to the public," § 624.418(1)(b), Fla.Stat....
...aggregate claims are filed with the fund. [5] Under Florida law, property and casualty insurers administering and underwriting workers compensation policies must meet minimum financial requirements governing workers compensation policies. Fla.Stat. § 624.418(3) (1996)....
Cited 4 times | Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal | 2008 WL 2048349
... Section 624.321(1)(b), Florida Statutes Granting OIR, when conducting an investigation "the power to subpoena witnesses, compel their attendance and testimony, and require by subpoena the production of books, papers, records, files, correspondence, documents, or other evidence which is relevant to the inquiry." Section 624.418,(2)(a)-(b), Florida Statutes Providing as an enforcement mechanism, that "[OIR] may, in its discretion, suspend or revoke the certificate of authority of an insurer if it finds that the insurer: (a) Has violated ....
...Pursuant to statute, OIR could have suspended Allstate from conducting any insurance business in Florida for its failure to comply with the insurance code by its refusal to produce the documents, and to make the documents requested by OIR "freely available." See § 624.11(1), Fla. Stat.; § 624.318(2), Fla. Stat.; § 624.418(2)(a)-(b), Fla....
...Third, the IFO was tailored to the harm by allowing Allstate to determine the duration of the suspension. OIR exercised its discretion to temporarily suspend Allstate's certificates of authority to transact new business for failing to produce the requested records. See § 624.418(2)(b), Fla....
...ly" produce in order to conduct insurance business in Florida. OIR places no extra burden on Allstate than the one Allstate voluntarily accepted when choosing to transact insurance in Florida. See § 624.11(1), Fla. Stat.; § 624.318(2), Fla. Stat.; § 624.418(2)(a)-(b), Fla....
...Ass’n, Inc., 94 So.3d 541 (Fla.2012) (where insurance code did not provide private remedy, no private remedy would be implied by court). Here, the Legislature has already specified the penalties for a title insurer’s violation of the insurance code: “A title insurer is subject to the penalties in § 624.418(2) [suspension of insurer’s certificate of authority] and 624.4211 [levy of fine] for any violation of a lawful order or rule of the office or commission, or for any violation of this code, committed by: ......
...tions 627.837 and 627.832(l)(e), (l)(g), and (l)(h), Florida Statutes. Count II asserted that Beacon had failed to comply with the Department’s request that it produce certain records of Seminole, thereby violating sections 627.836(1) and (2), and 624.418(2)(b), Florida Statutes. Count III charged Beacon with using methods and practices in the conduct of its business so as to render further transactions of business in this state hazardous or injurious to its consumers or the public in violation of section 624.418(l)(b), Florida Statutes....
...Department of Professional Regulation, 484 So.2d 1315, 1316 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986), on remand it will be incumbent upon the Department to consider them. The Department’s final order must also be reversed to the extent that the Department’s application of the provisions of section 624.418, Florida Statutes, constituted error permeating the entire proceedings. As noted above, the hearing officer found that, in violation of section 624.418(2)(b), Beacon refused to provide the Department records relating to the conduct of its business, and used methods and practices in the conduct of its business so “as to render its further transaction of insurance in this state hazardous or injurious to its policyholders or the public” in violation of section 624.418(l)(b). The hearing officer expressly stated: Although Sections 627.83[2](1) and 624.418(2) provide that the Department may suspend or revoke a certificate of authority for violations of those statutes, Section 624.418(l)(b), Florida Statutes, provides that the Department shall suspend or revoke a certificate of authority for violation of that statute_ [Beacon’s] practice of inducing, through Seminole, insurance agents in the State of Florida to v...
...The only penalty which would assuredly protect the public from [Beacon’s] business practices is revocation. We agree with Beacon that the foregoing portion of the recommended order makes clear that revocation was based on the mandatory provisions of section 624.418(l)(b)....
...The Legislature has in section 627.832 authorized the imposition of penalties against licensed insurance premium finance companies under certain enumerated circumstances. There is no statutory authority, however, which would allow the Department to apply to a premium finance company the provisions of subsections 624.418(l)(b) or (2)(b), the statute pursuant to which the hearing officer and the Department revoked Beacon’s license. Accordingly, we quash that portion of the final order which purports to revoke Beacon’s license pursuant to section 624.418 and remand for further proceedings pertain *200 ing to the remaining allegations of the show cause order properly charging violations under section 627.887....
This Florida statute resource is curated by Graham W. Syfert, Esq., a Jacksonville, Florida personal injury and workers' compensation attorney. Attorney Syfert regularly works with Chapter 624 in the context of insurance disputes and represents clients throughout Northeast Florida. For legal consultation, call 904-383-7448.
