Florida Halts Atlantic Coast Life’s New and Renewal Business; Existing Policies Must Be Serviced

Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation has suspended Atlantic Coast Life Insurance Company’s authority to take new or renewal business in the state, effective immediately. Its October 1 notice also requires the insurer to keep servicing Florida policies already in force. The suspension closes off new and renewal business with the carrier in Florida; it does not itself cancel existing coverage.

The regulator directs Atlantic Coast Life to stop soliciting or accepting new and renewal business and tells Florida agents to halt future contracts with the company. For existing policyowners, it requires the insurer to honor liabilities for losses and unearned premiums while those obligations exist. Atlantic Coast Life must also continue statutory filings until its Florida obligations are resolved. Those are obligations imposed on the insurer, rather than a guarantee that any particular future claim will be paid.

Florida’s finding and a separate court petition

Florida’s regulator says it determined Atlantic Coast Life was impaired. It also says South Carolina’s insurance department has petitioned a court to place the insurer and a subsidiary into receivership for rehabilitation. That petition is a request for court action; Florida’s notice does not establish that rehabilitation has been ordered. Florida’s sales suspension, meanwhile, is effective immediately under the regulator’s announcement.

A-CAP disputed Florida’s decision in an October 1 statement reported by Insurance Journal. It said Atlantic Coast Life remained focused on policyowner obligations and capital and restructuring work. For Florida policyowners, the immediate distinction remains: the insurer must service coverage already in force while it cannot accept new or renewal business in the state.