September 2020, Claims Data Analysis

As the industry’s leading claims litigation management software provider, CaseGlide compiles a broad swath of claims data that represents a variety of segments and geographies. One of the most interesting that we regularly gather and analyze are cases specific to most of Florida’s largest P&C insurance organizations.

Looking at a cross-section of Florida’s largest insurers, September 2020 revealed a total of 4,918 open litigated claims, an increase from August’s figure of 4,590 (+7%), and up 28% from September 2019 figures (3,853).

The 7% month-over-month increase in total litigated claims CaseGlide has seen across the leading insurers in Florida is driven by three organizations with more than a 50% increase and an additional 10 with positive month-over-month increases (between 2% and 37%). Our data shows that only four organizations experienced a month-over-month decrease (between -2% and -20%).

We have seen a steady decline in the percentage of AOB cases in the last 12 months, where in September 2019, 36% of open cases were AOB versus this September’s 20%.  That is also down from August 2020 figures, where 22% of all cases were AOB related.

Over the past 12 calendar months, CaseGlide has identified 12,588 total AOB cases affecting the top 17 insurers in the state. Those numbers are highly influenced by a set of 10 AOB contractors that were responsible for nearly 30% of all cases.

Distribution of new cases by geography has stayed consistent in the past 12 months with 22% of new cases coming from Miami-Dade County, 17% from Broward County, 10% from Lee County, 8% from Palm Beach County, 8% from Orange County and the remaining 35% from other counties across the state.

Of litigation cases we see designated for specific catastrophes for September 2020, we continue to see a sizable amount of those attributed to Hurricane Irma and significantly less to Hurricane Michael. Year over year, Hurricane Irma cases have increased slightly from 2019, while Hurricane Michael cases have steadily declined since September 2019.

With the September 9th 2020 deadline for Hurricane Irma claims now behind us, we expect to see the percentage of litigated cases decline by the end of this year or early next. But the thing to be cognizant of is that the deadline is for the end of claims—not Irma lawsuits.

We’re also seeing a moderate drop in AOB litigated claims, which we expect to continue to decline due to Florida House Bill 7065 that took effect in July of this year. The expectation is that this bill will result in reduced costs by reducing AOB litigation for CaseGlide customers and insurers around the state.

Trends at this level are important for insurers to review because they offer a glimpse into how the industry as a whole is operating—and how the insurer is faring by comparison.

We’ll continue to monitor this data with great interest, watching to see if these patterns continue and how this season’s rash of storms affects insurers in the Sunshine State.