|
|
Review 5/27/2010
|
|
When I was taking a college course a couple of years ago, one of the case studies that we had concerned insurance fraud, and I remembered (actually, I had to look it up again) that Florida has has had a law on the books for several years called the Pete Orr Insurance Fraud Act, and that several businesses have been actually shut down for selling unlicensed insurance products to Floridians. The actual wording in the bill states that anyone who transacts unlicensed insurance can be charged with a first, second, or third degree felony, depending on the amount of premiums collected. It allows anyone who purchased this insurance to sue an unlicensed entity that left them with unpaid claims. There's a lot more information on Google concerning the Pete Orr Act. It would appear to be just the kind of law that Florida State Officials would use to prosecute this kind of case, but of course, multiple travel companies and large numbers of individuals are involved, based on information contained in the Cease and Desist Orders issued by Florida in the past year. Of course, companies are innocent until proven guilty, but many large Travel Companies in Florida, including SmartTravel Group, Ltd., have already been fined. This might only be a temporary action to get their attention, since the fines are pretty modest. There's no way of knowing whether there's another shoe to be dropped, but there could well be.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|