Provides relative to public adjusters

House Bill 600 amends Louisiana's public adjuster licensing and fee statutes by expanding the definition of public adjusting and imposing new restrictions on contingent fee arrangements. The bill amends R.S. 22:1692(8) by adding a new subsection (c) that explicitly includes acting or aiding in the negotiation or settlement of first-party property insurance claims as a form of public adjusting, extending the definition beyond the existing provision that covered only investigation, appraisal, and evaluation activities. The bill simultaneously modifies R.S. 22:1703(A) to prohibit public adjusters from entering into contingent fee contracts that exceed ten percent of catastrophic insurance claim settlements or fifteen percent of non-catastrophic insurance claim settlements, effectively capping the percentage-based fees that public adjusters may charge insureds who hire them to handle property damage claims.

The practical effect of this legislation is to regulate how public adjusters compensate themselves when representing property owners in disputes with insurers over claim settlements. Public adjusters working on first-party property claims will be restricted in their ability to negotiate percentage-based fees with clients, as contracts providing for fees exceeding the statutory thresholds will be deemed unenforceable. This impacts property owners who hire public adjusters to represent their interests in insurance disputes by establishing a legal maximum fee that adjusters may charge, which may affect the availability and terms of public adjuster services in the market. Insurers and adjusters themselves are affected by the clearer statutory delineation of what activities constitute public adjusting, which may reduce disputes over whether certain claim-related activities require public adjuster licensing.

The bill operates within Louisiana's regulatory framework for insurance professionals under Title 22 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes. Public adjusters are licensed insurance professionals regulated by the Louisiana Department of Insurance under this Part of the law. The statutory fee restriction imposed by the bill is a form of consumer protection that falls within the state's traditional police power to regulate the insurance industry and professional services. The bill preserves existing exclusions that prevent public adjusters from handling motor vehicle claims and from engaging in activities that would constitute the unauthorized practice of law, maintaining the boundaries of public adjuster authority as established in prior law while creating enforceable fee limitations through the null and void provision applied to contracts that violate the percentage caps.