TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida Department of Financial Services on Thursday asked a Leon County circuit judge to place Weston Property and Casualty Insurance Co. in receivership after the insurer was determined to be insolvent. The filing did not detail how many policies Weston had, but the company stopped writing new policies on July 15 and stopped renewing policies on July 18.

Weston notified state regulators on July 27 that it was insolvent and agreed to go into receivership, according to court documents.

Weston is the fifth insurer declared insolvent since late February, following Southern Fidelity Insurance Co., Lighthouse Property Insurance Corp., Avatar Property & Casualty Insurance Co. and St. Johns Insurance Co.

Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier notified state Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis on Tuesday about the Weston insolvency, leading to the Department of Financial Services’ Division of Rehabilitation and Liquidation filing the court petition Thursday.

The filing listed a series of issues, including saying that Weston’s “assets if made immediately available are insufficient to pay all of its liabilities.” Also, it said Weston had not fully placed reinsurance for the 2022-2023 year. Reinsurance, which is backup coverage, plays a critical role in Florida, in part because of the threat of hurricanes.

“Therefore, respondent’s (Weston’s) continued operation is hazardous to policyholders, creditors and the public and receivership proceedings are appropriate pursuant to (state law),” the petition said.

The filings indicate the Office of Insurance Regulation had been monitoring Weston for more than two years. As an example, regulators issued a consent order in May 2020 that required Weston to file a “capital management plan” that, in part, included improving its financial liquidity.

Also, the company had net underwriting losses during the first three months of 2022 of nearly $12.2 million.

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