2025 Top 5 P&C Stories: From fraud to wildfires

By Staff Reports

From fraud to wildfires, lawsuits and climate disasters dominated property and casualty insurance news in 2025.

A series of top stories focused on a New York civil lawsuit that had accused clinics and doctors, including the husband of longtime co-host of “The View,” Sunny Hostin, of fraud. Hostin was dismissed from the lawsuit. There are 6-8 defendants that haven't reached settlements with the plaintiff.

California wildfires and their insurance impacts also topped the news, along with an article on "systematic fraud' alleged in property/casualty claims practices.

Here are the top 5 most read stories for 2025:

Some settlements reached in fraud lawsuit involving Sunny Hostin’s husband

A New York City civil lawsuit accusing dozens of clinics and doctors – including the husband of longtime co-host of “The View,” Sunny Hostin – of massive medical fraud is moving closer to a settlement.

According to documents filed Monday, the insurance company American Transit Insurance Co., which insures taxi companies and Uber and Lyft drivers, settled with 141 of the 186 defendants named in the 698-page complaint.

American Transit filed a civil lawsuit Dec. 17 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The lawsuit lists dozens of surgical centers, orthopedic services and doctors and is reported to be one of the largest Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) cases ever filed in New York.

Florida court rules against ‘direction to pay’ strategy in roof repair claim

A Florida appeals court sided with a lower court ruling this week that a “direction to pay” by itself does not constitute an assignment of benefits in a disputed roof-repair claim.

The ruling is the latest in a series of decisions upholding the state’s assignment of benefits reform measures. Critics blame Florida’s sky-high property insurance rates on a lawsuit culture that flourished for years.

Florida's Assignment of Benefits reform prohibits property owners from assigning their insurance benefits to third parties, such as contractors or electricians, to file claims and receive payments.

The case in question began when Leonard Caruso’s house in The Villages sustained roof damage In 2019. Caruso reported the loss to his insurer, American Integrity Insurance Co. and selected Noland’s Roofing to repair the damage, court documents say.

Wildfires rage as insurers weigh risk; Liberty Mutual to reduce coverage

The biggest wildfires ever to hit the Los Angeles area continue to rage into another day, forcing more than 100,000 people to evacuate and racking up billions of dollars in damages.

These latest California fires hit at a time when property insurers have been canceling coverage in the Golden State, leaving thousands of property owners at risk.

“We would expect insured losses to run in the billions of dollars given the high value of homes and businesses in the impacted areas,” said Jasper Cooper, vice president-senior credit officer, Moody’s Ratings, in a statement.

“Losses will be shared among standard homeowners insurers, insurers specializing in high-value excess and surplus lines homeowners policies, and the California FAIR plan. In addition, commercial property losses could be significant.”

‘Tough decisions’ on the way as California grapples with insurance crisis

Nearly six months after a series of devastating wildfires, California’s property insurance crisis is far from stabilized.

Many market participants are focused on the next climate-fueled disaster – be it more wildfires or an earthquake. The Golden State’s property insurance market simply cannot continue without major reforms, experts say.

“The home insurance market is in a state of crisis,” reads a new report from Deep Sky, a Canadian carbon removal project developer. “The highest risk areas of California have effectively become uninsurable and will soon become unaffordable. … Without significant policy intervention, these properties will eventually become worthless.”

The report, titled “Wildfires 2025,” shows insurers abandoning homeowners in the highest-risk areas, with over 150,000 households now uninsured in California's most fire-prone regions alone. Home insurance premiums have shot up 42% in those areas.

'Systematic fraud' alleged in property/casualty claims practices

Two independent insurance claims adjusters and a U.S. Senator accused property/casualty insurance companies of directing adjusters to lower their claims estimates to reduce insurer payouts to homeowners – a practice described as “a pattern of systematic fraud.”

The Senate Homeland Security Committee’s Subcommittee on Disaster Management grilled two industry executives after listening to testimony from two policyholders whose homes were left uninhabitable after recent natural disasters and two adjusters who described how insurers pressure them to revise their reports to reduce the claims payout.

“Where do Americans turn after catastrophes like the ones we’ve experienced? They turn to their insurance companies because they pay premiums to those companies – it’s a contract,” said Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., subcommittee chair. “But at the end of the day, insurers won’t pay what is due, what is required, what is just. This is a deliberate strategy to maximize profits.”