Free Florida Property & Casualty practice questions

Answer: C. A copy of the order or related legal documents, within 30 days

A licensee must send the department a copy of the order, consent order, or other relevant legal documents within 30 days after the final disposition of an administrative action taken by a regulator in Florida or any other jurisdiction. The duty covers actions relating to insurance, the sale of securities, or conduct involving fraud, dishonesty, trustworthiness, or breach of fiduciary duty, so this securities regulator's action, which arose from a sale of securities, is included. A summary is not the required document, the renewal date is not the deadline, and the statute sets no dollar threshold.

Answer: A. The terms and conditions of the insurance contract and applicable Florida law

Florida law requires every adjuster to adjust or investigate each claim, damage, or loss under an insurance contract in accordance with the contract's terms and conditions and the applicable laws of Florida. An employer's guidelines cannot displace the policy wording where the two conflict, a figure the parties consider fair is not the measure the statute sets, and local custom among adjusters is not the measure either.

Answer: D. 45 days

Florida requires a health insurer to reimburse a claim, or any portion of one, from an insured or the insured's assignee within 45 days after the insurer receives it. If the insurer contests or denies all or part of the claim, it must instead notify the insured or assignee in writing within that same 45 days, identifying the contested portion and its reasons. The 15 and 30 day figures are shorter than the statute requires, and 90 days would leave an uncontested claim unpaid past the 45-day deadline.

Answer: D. $120,000, the part of the loss the covered peril caused

Under the valued policy law, the rule that pays the policy's stated amount for a total loss does not apply when the loss was caused partly by a covered peril and partly by a noncovered peril, unless the covered peril alone would have caused the total loss. In that situation the insurer is liable only for the part of the loss caused by the covered peril, here $120,000. Paying the $300,000 stated amount applies the rule the statute sets aside, a half-of-limits figure has no basis in the statute, and the noncovered peril's contribution does not erase liability for the covered portion.

Answer: A. $500, 2 percent, 5 percent, and 10 percent of the dwelling limits

The general rule requires the insurer, before issuing a personal lines residential policy, to offer hurricane deductibles of $500 and of 2, 5, and 10 percent of the policy dwelling limits, unless a given percentage works out to less than $500. The set beginning at $250 and 1 percent uses figures the statute does not list. The set ending at 15 percent overstates the top required option, which is 10 percent. The set beginning at $1,000 drops both the $500 option and the 5 percent option. Other paragraphs of the same subsection allow certain substitutions for policies with higher dwelling limits; the set described here is the general requirement.

Answer: D. The no-fault tort exemption in s. 627.737 does not apply to the taxicab

Section 627.733(1)(b) takes taxicab owners out of the general security rule, requires them to maintain security under s. 324.032(1) instead, and states that s. 627.737, the no-fault tort exemption and limitation on damages, does not apply to any taxicab. A taxicab is therefore not free of every security requirement, since the statute directs its owner to a different security rule. Its owner is not governed by the general PIP security paragraph that applies to other owners. The tort exemption does not become available to a taxicab by carrying PIP, because the statute withholds it outright.

Answer: D. The department may, in its discretion, reinstate the agent without a new examination

Among the examination exemptions, Florida lists an applicant for reinstatement as an agent, customer representative, or all-lines adjuster whose license was suspended within the 4 years before the reinstatement application or request, and it makes that exemption a matter of the department's discretion. A suspension three years ago is inside the window, so the department may reinstate without a new examination but is not obliged to. The exemption is not automatic, a new examination is not mandatory in every case, and the window is measured from the suspension rather than turning on how long the suspension lasted.

Answer: B. When it is written to complete the unexpired portion of a previous policy period

Florida's motor vehicle insurance contracts statute sets a 6-month minimum term for a policy providing PIP, property damage liability, or both. It allows only two exceptions: issuing the policy to achieve common expiration dates, or issuing it to finish out the unexpired portion of a previous policy period. A customer's wish for a smaller first payment is not one of the listed exceptions. Where the vehicle is garaged part of the year is not one of them either. A short-term rate filing by the insurer is also absent from the list, so it does not unlock a shorter term.

Answer: C. The most recent 5 years

Florida requires the agent to keep a copy of every rebate schedule from the most recent 5 years, together with the date each one took effect. Two years and three years are shorter than the statute requires, and ten years is longer than the period the statute sets.

Answer: B. It must take one of the listed actions, such as denial, because cheating is a compulsory ground

Section 626.611(1) lists grounds on which the department shall act. The required actions it lists are requiring license reexamination, denying an application, and suspending, revoking, or refusing to renew or continue a license or appointment. Denial is therefore one of several compulsory actions, not the only one. Paragraph (c) covers failing to pass a required examination to the department's satisfaction. It expressly includes cheating on an examination required for licensure and violating test center or examination procedures. Because the statute uses mandatory language, the department must take one of those listed actions. The statute gives the department no option to disregard the cheating because no criminal charge was filed, to issue a probationary license in exchange for a fine, or to wait on a criminal court.