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Homeowners get that sinking feeling

By A TIMES EDITORIAL
Published January 16, 2007

The state water management district for the Tampa Bay region encourages residents to contact insurance companies if their homes are threatened by a sinkhole - a depression or collapse in the land that can be visible on the surface or hidden from view.

Warning signs are doors and windows that fail to close properly, slumping or sagging fence posts and trees, and cracks in walls, floors and pavement.

Some state lawmakers want to change that rationale by rewriting the definition of sinkhole damage. In their view, insurance companies would be responsible only when damages are so severe the house is condemned as uninhabitable. The damage must have occurred within one week from a sinkhole visible to the naked eye.

The proposed sinkhole legislation, introduced by Sen. Mike Fasano and Rep. John Legg, both New Port Richey Republicans, is a problematic response to escalating insurance premiums. Citizens Property Insurance Corp. paid $42-million on 516 sinkhole claims in Pasco and Hernando counties in 2005, a figure routinely blamed on fraud, aggressive client recruiting by sinkhole-specialty attorneys and Citizens' inability or unwillingness to investigate claims properly.

Limiting payouts exclusively to when a house falls into a huge hole in the ground (and only within seven days) is unfair to homeowners in an area known for sinkhole activity. The Southwest Florida Water Management District identifies parts of the northern Tampa Bay region as prone to slow-developing sinkholes because naturally deteriorating limestone is close the ground surface.

The proposed legislation, to be considered in special session this week in Tallahassee, fails to take into account that some provisions of the insurance reform law (SB 1980) approved in 2006 have yet to be implemented. That includes a required neutral evaluator to review sinkhole cases as a way to reduce fraudulent claims.

The Fasano-Legg proposal also would give homeowners the option of declining sinkhole protection. Citizens has said it could cut premium prices by more than half in Pasco if it did not have to write mandatory sinkhole coverage.

The legislation is premature at best. Lawmakers should make sure all presumed savings from SB 1980 are in place before asking the public to assume a greater risk.

[Last modified January 15, 2007, 23:39:19]