UNIVERSAL

increased them 2.2 percent in 2015 and had no increase in 2016.

In August 2016, the company withdrew a proposal to increase its rates an average 2.6 percent statewide after state regulators questioned whether an 8.1 percent average increase proposed for policyholders in the tri-county region was “unfairly discriminatory.”

In his response, Miller said that although AOB-related costs have been relatively flat, they have increased in recent years and remain “at historically high levels.”

Assignment of benefits, a contract affidavit that enables third-party contractors to bill and sue contractors while standing in the shoes of policyholders, has been blamed by insurers across the state for sharp increases in lawsuits, losses and premiums.

State-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the so-called insurer of last resort, says it is particularly hard hit, with more than 90 percent of AOB-related suits originating from the tri-county region.

But Universal officials said more than 50 percent ofAOBsuits against itcome from outside the tri-county area, more or less unchanged froma year ago.

Direct premiums written increased 7.7 percent in the first quarter, with 4.3 percent growth in Florida and 44.9 percent in other states, the company’s earnings report states.

Universal has been aggressively expanding outside of Florida and is now writing policies in 14 states and has been recently licensed in five others. Among them is New York, where Universal expects to begin selling policies by the end of the year, officials said.

Universal usurped Citizens’ ranking as Florida’s top insurer by policy count in late 2015, largely because of Citizens’ efforts to transfer its policies to private insurers.

Total value of all Florida property Universal insured at the end of the first quarterwas $136.6 billion, while insured value in other states totaled $39 billion. By comparison, Citizens insured $120.2 billion at the end of the quarter.

Universal’s policy count in Florida was 585,359, compared with Citizens’ 451,189 policies.

Universal did not break out its policy count in the tri-county region in the first-quarter earnings report, but Citizens remained the top insurer at the end of the fourth quarter of 2016, the last quarter for which comparable figures were available, with 224,911, while Universal had 220,306.

Universal’s combined ratio— acommonmeasure of an insurance company’s profitability — declined from 80.8 percent to 78.9 percent year over year. The combined ratio is calculated by dividing the sum of incurred losses and expenses by earned premiums. A ratio below100 percent indicates the company is profitable while any ratio above 100 indicates it is paying more in claims than it is receiving in premiums.

In March, Citizens — whichby lawmust sell policies to property owners who otherwise cannot buy insurance — reported a combined ratio of 107 percent for 2016, indicating an operating loss for the year. The company blamed AOB litigation for a $27 million operating loss for2016. Citizens has not yet released its financial statement for the first quarter of 2017.