Greetings,

On Monday, the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI), proposed a statewide premium decrease of 9.6% for 2018 (rates would be effective 1/1/2018).  The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation now has to review the filing and there will be a public hearing in October.

The rationale for the premium decrease is that claim frequency (the number of claims) is down 8% over the last two years.

After the Castellanos decision (finding the claimant attorney fee caps unconstitutional),  rates were increased by 14.5% on 12/1/2016.   NCCI had actually recommended a higher increase at 19%.

In addition to the reduction in claim frequency, it appears that the impact of Castellanos, when tampered with the Miles case, has not been as great as anticipated.  Miles permits the claimant’s attorney to take a greater percentage of a claimant’s settlement, resulting in less need for litigation to secure a greater fee.

Here is a link to the NCCI press release on the proposed rates.

http://www.floir.com/siteDocuments/NCCIStatementFloridaFiling08282017.pdf

Sincerely,
Morgan Indek | Partner