Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Commentary: As Flood Threat Grows, Florida Must Mandate Flood Risk Disclosure
Aug 14 2019 // The climate is changing, and it has become abundantly clear that Florida is going to be badly damaged in the decades ahead. With the state experiencing increasingly devastating effects of severe tropical weather and...
Florida Appoints State’s First Chief Resilience Officer to Prepare for Sea Level Rise
Aug 9 2019 // Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has appointed Dr. Julia Nesheiwat as Florida’s first Chief Resilience Officer (CRO). The CRO will be tasked with preparing Florida for the environmental, physical and economic impacts of...
Naples, Florida Loses $700K in Spear Phishing Cyberattack
Aug 8 2019 // Officials in the southwest Florida city of Naples say they lost $700,000 in a recent cyberattack. The Naples Daily News reports that the attack was a “spear phishing” effort targeting a specific person or...
Florida Supreme Court Dismisses Long-Awaited Case on AOB Policy Language
Aug 7 2019 // The Florida Supreme Court has reversed course and decided not to hear a controversial case regarding the validity of certain language around assignment of benefit agreements, instead ruling that a law passed by the Florida...
AM Best Upgrades Credit Rating of State Farm Florida Insurance Co.
Aug 7 2019 // AM Best has upgraded the FSR to A- (Excellent) from B++ (Good) and the Long-Term ICR to “a-” from “bbb+” of State Farm Florida Insurance Co. (State Farm Florida) based in Winter Haven, Fla. The...
BRP Partners with Foundation Insurance of Florida
Aug 6 2019 // Baldwin Risk Partners (BRP), a Tampa, Florida based insurance distribution holding company, has partnered with Foundation Insurance of Florida, a Boca Raton, Fla.-based insurance agency. Foundation Insurance of Florida was...
Carter Appointed Florida Insurance Consumer Advocate
Aug 5 2019 // Tasha Carter, long-time director of the Florida Department of Financial Services’ (DFS) Division of Consumer Services, has been appointed by Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jimmy Patronis as the state’s Insurance...
People
Aug 5 2019 // National Linda Dodson The Vertafore technology users network, NetVU, has named Linda Dodson as executive director. Dodson’s career has included work in an insurance agency and with agency carriers. She began her...
Family of Florida Man Killed in Autopilot Crash Sues Tesla
Aug 2 2019 // Tesla Inc. was sued for the second time in three months by the family of a car owner who was killed in a crash while using the driver-assistance system Autopilot. Jeremy Banner, 50, died when the Model 3 sedan he was...
Florida Regulator Calls Open Hurricane Michael Claims ‘Discouraging’; Plans Data Call
Aug 1 2019 // With more than 20,000 claims related to Hurricane Michael still open nine months after the storm hit the Florida Panhandle, Florida’s top insurance regulator is calling on the insurance industry to take “all...
World Insurance Associates Acquires West Coast Insurance, Combs Insurance of Florida
Aug 1 2019 // World Insurance Associates LLC, an independent insurance agency headquartered in Tinton Falls, N.J., has expanded its presence in Florida with the acquisitions of West Coast Insurance Group and Combs Insurance, effective...
Sexual Harassment Scandal Rocks Florida CFO’s Office; Banking Regulator Fired
Jul 31 2019 // The Florida Cabinet fired the state’s top banking regulator last week, a week after the release of a state investigator’s report asserting that the official misused his public office and subjected women to...
Florida Regulator Approves Post-AOB Reform Rates for Citizens Policyholders
Jul 30 2019 // Florida’s insurance regulator has established 2019 rates for Citizens Property Insurance Corp. after the insurer resubmitted its rate filing as part of a requirement of the new assignment of benefits law that...
Challenges Facing the Florida Insurance Market: A Reinsurer’s Perspective
Jul 30 2019 // Hurricanes Irma and Michael served as a reminder that Florida, more than any other state, is at risk of one of the most intense natural perils, namely hurricanes. The existence of a stable insurance market providing its...
1K Guests at Hotel Near Florida SeaWorld Evacuated After Room Fire
Jul 29 2019 // Officials say more than 1,000 guests were temporarily evacuated from a Florida hotel near SeaWorld after a fire broke out in a room. Orange County Fire Rescue posted on Twitter that Thursday morning’s blaze at the...
Florida-Based Insurance Office of America Names Peters SVP of Operations
Jul 29 2019 // Insurance Office of America has added operational leader Robert J. Peters to its Longwood, Fla., headquarters. Peters joins IOA’s growing team as senior vice president of insurance operations, a newly created...
17K Oysters Stolen from Florida Seafood Company
Jul 26 2019 // Pensacola Bay Oyster Co. posted photos on Instagram of more than 35 empty bags that were tossed into a wooded area along the beach in East Bay on Tuesday. They’re offering a reward for information that leads to the...
N.Sure Opens All Digital Home, Auto Insurance Agency in Florida
Jul 25 2019 // Boca Raton, Fla.-based Nsure.com has launched an online, digital home and auto insurance agency in Florida that offers comparison quotes from more than 25 insurers. The new, fully-licensed company’s technology gives...
EEOC Sues McDonald’s Over Religious Discrimination Against Florida Job Applicant
Jul 24 2019 // The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has sued the owner of multiple McDonald’s restaurants in Central Florida for violating federal law for refusing to hire a job applicant who would not shave his...
Addressing Florida’s Rising Tide of Flood Exposures
Jul 24 2019 // In the past five years, all 50 states have experienced some type of flooding. Flooding has led to disasters throughout the decades, and this year, it is expected to become unprecedented yet again. Despite a long history of...
