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 A public adjuster who is accused of pocketing insurance payouts intended for policyholders took a total of $7.9 million from 14 customers, including four churches, according to an amended complaint filed by the Texas Department of Insurance. The Texas State Office of Administrative Hearings has scheduled an Oct. 12 hearing on the Insurance Department’s petition to revoke the public adjuster license issued to Andrew Joseph Mitchell and shut down several unlicensed businesses that he operated, including Mitchell Adjusting International. The department on Sept. 23 filed an amended petition that names new victims and increases the total alleged losses. A spokesman told the Claims Journal that the department cannot comment on whether it has referred the Mitchell case to criminal prosecutors. Mitchell’s attorney, David W. Alexander of League City, Texas, said in an email that his client “denies that he intentionally misappropriated policyholders’ money “For that reason, he is answering ...

Insurance News Update:   While some analysts are predicting that the property insurance industry will be able to manage Hurricane Ian and its estimated $50 billion in insured losses, a few are now warning that the storm could significantly erode the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund’s surplus, which could spell trouble for carriers who may face soaring reinsurance costs next year. An analysis by Chicago-based Ian Gutter man, a longtime investor in insurance companies and founder of a startup homeowners insurance company, put it bluntly.  “From my point of view, the risk to the system is that the FHCF is the finger holding back the dam,” Gutterman wrote this week in a blog post. “If it gets removed, most of the local insurers are going to get washed away.” The post has elicited a range of reactions from leaders in the Florida insurance industry. “He’s not right on everything, but he’s pretty warm,” said John Rollins, an actuary and former chief financial officer at Olympu...