{"id":32310,"date":"2025-11-04T04:24:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T04:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/32310\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T04:24:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T04:24:12","slug":"tampa-family-reaches-insurance-settlement-after-fox-13-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/32310\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa family reaches insurance settlement after FOX 13 investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Insurance Insurance nightmare after hurricanes<\/a> <\/p>\n

FOX 13’s Craig Patrick talked with one family that is dealing with an insurance nightmare after their home was hit hard during last year’s storms.<\/p>\n

SEMINOLE HEIGHTS, Fla. – Steve and Heather Morrison of Seminole Heights<\/a> faced a year-long ordeal after Hurricane Helene<\/a> caused severe structural damage to their home. A falling tree weighing roughly 11,000 pounds crashed through the roof, splitting rafters and cracking walls.<\/p>\n

What we know:<\/p>\n

Their insurance company initially offered around $26,000 \u2014 far short of what the Morrison’s estimates show was needed to rebuild. The family was left with an unlivable house, mounting debt from two mortgages and rent, and personal belongings stolen from the boarded-up property.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

READ: New Florida law requires landlords to disclose flood risks to renters<\/a><\/p>\n

After FOX 13 began investigating their case, the Morrison’s attorney, Christopher Fauntleroy, confirmed the family has now reached a satisfactory agreement through mediation with their insurer. He thanked FOX 13 for its reporting and said the station\u2019s involvement helped bring the case to a successful resolution.<\/p>\n

What we don’t know:<\/p>\n

While the Morrison’s case is now resolved, it remains unclear how many other families will see similar results. Many continue to report delays, underpayments or denials in their claims \u2014 despite state reforms intended to stabilize Florida\u2019s home insurance market.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

MORE: Wimauma family sells belongings following Medicaid denials in cancer battle<\/a><\/p>\n

The backstory:<\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s home insurance crisis has been building for years, with rising premiums, insurer withdrawals from the market and shrinking coverage. Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024 intensified those problems, leaving thousands of families struggling to repair or rebuild storm-damaged homes.<\/p>\n

What’s next:<\/p>\n

FOX 13 is continuing its investigative series on Florida\u2019s home insurance crisis. In the next chapter, FOX 13’s Craig Patrick examines how customers of state-run Citizens Insurance must go through a separate legal process \u2014 one in which judges are funded by Citizens, and homeowners rarely prevail.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

The Source: This report is based on interviews with homeowners Steve and Heather Morrison, their attorney Christopher Fauntleroy, and investigative reporting by Craig Patrick of FOX 13 News. Property damage and documentation were verified on-site by FOX 13 staff.<\/p>\n

Seminole Heights<\/a>Housing<\/a>FOX 13 Investigates<\/a>Hurricane Helene<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Insurance nightmare after hurricanes FOX 13’s Craig Patrick talked with one family that is dealing with an insurance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32311,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[47,22841,629,1644,3125,944,115,4439,405,135,137,136,628,221],"class_list":["post-32310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-fl","tag-fox13-investigates","tag-hillsborough","tag-housing","tag-hurricane-helene","tag-hurricanes","tag-news","tag-seminole-heights","tag-series","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-us","tag-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}