Governor Charlie Crist has enlisted the help of three high powered trial lawyers to decide if legal action against insurance companies for gouging consumers is possible. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, even if the case goes forward, don?t look for refunds anytime soon.<\/p>\n

Hear it here: Crist Hints at Class Action Against Insurers<\/a><\/p>\n

When the hankie fell on a special session on insurance last January, there were predictions of rates dropping an average 24 percent . But In most cases consumers were lucky to get half that much. So the governor is dropping hints of a class action lawsuit..much like the tobacco litigation that won the state billions.<\/p>\n

Question:? Do you think people who paid higher rates have money coming back? ?
\n?That would be the whole point to so ..exactly…to get the consumers money back. We haven?t had storms, thank god, ” said the Governor.<\/p>\n

Dexter Douglass was the general behind the tobacco suit. He is one of three lawyers looking at the case against insurers. Douglass says the information he’s seem makes him think something isn’t right.<\/p>\n

“It?s just too pat..and too offensive to the consumers that there isn?t some action? says Douglass.<\/p>\n

After two years of no storms…or significant losses, and in some cases rising costs, the industry is on the defensive. Insurance Council Spokesman Sam Miller says bring it on.<\/p>\n

?We can defend ourselves in court if that?s where we?re headed” says Miller. “It would be nice to get beyond the talk and let them submit their proof and we?ll submit our proof, and we?ll be proven right.?<\/p>\n

The tobacco litigation took three years to pay off…so don?t look for a refund, or settlement in your mailbox anytime soon..if ever. It?s expected to take at least a month before the lawyers decide if there is a next step.<\/p>\n

The lawyers are not charging the state for their time to review the case. It is unclear whether they will get paid if they take on a law suit and win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Governor Charlie Crist has enlisted the help of three high powered trial lawyers to decide if legal action against insurance companies for gouging consumers is possible. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, even if the case goes forward, don?t look for refunds anytime soon. Hear it here: Crist Hints at Class Action Against Insurers When the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flanews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1482"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flanews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flanews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flanews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flanews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flanews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1482\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flanews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flanews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flanews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}