Attorney general subpoenas Velocity Risk Underwriters over policy clauses barring public adjusters

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said Tuesday, Oct. 20, that his office has opened an investigation and sent a subpoena for documents to Velocity Risk Underwriters LLC over what the release describes as policy clauses barring homeowners from hiring licensed public adjusters.¹ A Velocity spokesperson told Insurance Journal by email that the company is cooperating with the attorney general’s office and expects the matter to end in its favor.²

What the attorney general announced

The release says the office is examining possible illegal agreements among insurers and describes clauses under which an insurer can reject an entire claim if the homeowner hires a public adjuster. It says such clauses often appear in surplus lines policies covering homes that are harder to insure.¹

According to the release, the subpoena asks for records on Velocity’s “membership in trade groups,” its communications with other insurers and any agreements meant to keep homeowners from hiring public adjusters.¹

“Homeowners should be allowed to hire an advocate on their side too,” Uthmeier said in the release. He said the office is looking into “whether Velocity and other insurance companies worked together to ban public adjusters.” The release also states, citing no source, that homeowners who use a public adjuster can receive “up to 30 percent more money on their claims.”¹

Velocity’s response

Insurance Journal, which identified Velocity as a Ryan Specialty managing general agent, reported that the company said its surplus lines property policies with the clause are issued to commercial insureds and that it does not place personal homeowners policies in Florida, which it described as the focus of the investigation.² The statement also said its commercial policies are in line with the state Office of Insurance Regulation, which it said had approved a similar clause in admitted homeowners policies for customers who accept it for lower premiums.² A version of the article published Oct. 23 by Claims Journal did not include the statement and said representatives could not immediately be reached.³

The pending lawsuit

The Florida Association of Public Insurance Adjusters and the National Association of Public Insurance Adjusters sued Velocity in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court; the complaint is captioned for the court’s Complex Business Division and was e-filed Oct. 9, 2025.⁴ The Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog, in an Oct. 12, 2025, post by Chip Merlin, gave the case number as 2025-019878-CA-01.⁵

The complaint asks the court to declare that the clause and related claims practices violate the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, or alternatively that the clause is unenforceable, and that an agreement between Velocity and the out-of-state insurers it serves as managing general agent is an unlawful restraint of trade under the Florida Antitrust Act. It seeks an injunction, attorneys’ fees and costs.⁴ Those are the associations’ allegations; no response from Velocity was reviewed.

Jonathan Zachem, the Florida association’s general counsel, told Insurance Journal the attorney general’s investigation would not affect the civil suit.²

What the records do not show

• An investigation and a subpoena are not findings. The release does not say Velocity or any other company broke the law, and it names no statute.¹
• The release does not name the other insurers it refers to or say whether others received subpoenas.¹
• The subpoena was not posted, so its exact demands and deadline could not be checked.
• The Miami-Dade clerk’s online case search requires a browser verification check and could not be used, so the case’s current status, any rulings and any response from Velocity are not reported; reporting through Oct. 23 described it as pending.³
• The release says Velocity writes “thousands of these policies in Florida” but gives no count; no record reviewed shows whether any cover homes.¹