TALLAHASSEE – Florida regulators issued subpoenas to a Palm Beach Gardens-based credit rating agency last month to force it to justify its “dire predictions” for the state’s insurance market.

Weiss Ratings founder Martin Weiss wrote in October that homeowners insurance companies are “on the brink of collapse” and that homeowners are at “high risk” of not being paid for their claims related to Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

The insurance office demanded that Weiss and his company turn over all emails, text messages and other records backing up those statements by Nov. 30.

“We take our responsibility to protect consumers very seriously, and we will not ignore any potential warning signs,” the cover letter from Assistant Commissioner Sheryl Parker says.

Weiss said he hasn’t decided whether to follow. His statements, that was posted on his company websitewould be protected by the First Amendment, he said.

He said he has had a good relationship with Florida officials in the past and had offered to help regulators in any way he could. He doesn’t know why they didn’t ask for the information first.

“All they had to do is call us, just send us an email,” Weiss said.

The summons was issued by means of a state law which gives regulators broad powers to investigate the insurance market.

“Weiss’ agency maintains that they are independent and thorough, and if they truly want to warn consumers about their egregious claims, they should have no problem responding to this lawsuit,” agency spokeswoman Kylie Mason said in a statement.

Weiss’ company financially values ​​cryptocurrencies, insurance companies, banks and other companies. Unlike most credit rating agencies, companies do not pay for grades. The financial model has given him greater freedom to criticize insurance companies — a 1992 New York Times headline called him “the bad boy of insurance ratings.”

But his subscriber newsletter can take on a conspiratorial tone, such as warning that the federal government is taking over Americans bank accounts. In 2006, his company paid $2.1 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle claims, he misled subscribers about the performance of certain investments.

His company has also gone against the industry during Florida’s insurance crisis.

Unlike insurance companies and agencies that rate them, Weiss have questioned the effectiveness of legal reforms approved by Gov. Ron DeSantis, which made it more difficult for consumers to sue insurance companies.

In June, Weiss released never-before-seen data from 2022 showing that Floridians had the lowest chance of getting paid when filing a homeowner’s insurance claimwith more than a third closed without payment.

Weiss also noted that affiliates of State Farm and Allstate — two critical players in Florida’s shaky insurance market — closed nearly half of their claims last year without making a payment, the highest rate among private insurers. He told the Times/Herald that insurance companies were “stiffening their customers”.

On Tuesday, It was reported by the Times/Herald that Weiss calculated that state-owned Citizens Property Insurance had the highest rate of closing claims of any insurer in Florida last year, at 50.4%.

The citizens did not dispute the information. On Thursday, Chief Insurance Officer Jay Adams told a Citizens board that it “makes sense” that the company would have a high rate of closing claims without payment because it insures some of the riskiest policies in the state.

Adams said the story was “misleading.” He said the high percentage of claims closed without payment is due to high hurricane deductibles and denied claims stemming from flood damage, which are not covered by Citizens. He also said the company is receiving claims from “confused” former customers who don’t know how to contact their new, private insurer. He could not provide an exact breakdown of why claims are denied.

Weiss said he stood by the statements made to Florida regulators.

He said that his statement that insurance companies were “abuses its power to reject claims for damages as a deliberate tactic to save money and avoid bankruptcy” was obvious. Insurance companies will often close claims and then pay out a settlement from a lawsuit later, indicating that the claim was legitimate in the first place.

“Otherwise, why would they pay them out in the future?” he said.

Weiss said his statement from October that Florida insurance companies were “on the brink of collapse” was actually an “understatement.”

“Florida is already in a state of collapse,” he said.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the deadline Weiss was given to respond to the lawsuit.