Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Paid ‘Climate Leave’ May Be Next Employee Benefit
Nov 17 2017 // Even the workplace has to adapt to the warming world. As climate change creates more intense storms, companies have started preparing for work disruptions due to extreme weather. In a sign of the times, Fog Creek, a...
Florida’s Everglades City Pushes Toward Recovery After Irma’s Hard Hit
Nov 16 2017 // Two months after Hurricane Irma’s storm surge slammed through tiny Everglades City, the mountains of debris that lined the streets have been reduced to scattered piles and the occasional abandoned stove or...
Velocity Risk Underwriters Adds Condominium Coverage to Florida Products
Nov 14 2017 // Velocity Risk Underwriters has expanded its Florida products to include HO-6 (condominium) for primary, secondary, seasonal, long-term rental, and short term rentals (minimum two days). Velocity offers an A.M. Best...
Crew Worker at Florida Retirement Community Killed by Explosion
Nov 14 2017 // Authorities say a man was killed in an explosion at a Florida work site. The Palm Beach Post reports that blast occurred Friday afternoon in a Boynton Beach retirement community. The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s...
Florida Approves Workers’ Comp Rate Decrease of Nearly 10%
Nov 13 2017 // Florida Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier has issued a final order granting approval to the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) for a statewide overall rate level decrease of 9.5 percent and premium level...
Maison Insurance Company Expands to Florida
Nov 9 2017 // Property Insurance Holdings Inc. (PIH), a specialty property and casualty insurance holding company, announced it is now licensed in Florida through its wholly owned subsidiary, Maison Insurance Company. This comes after...
Boats Took $655 Million Beating This Hurricane Season: BoatUS
Nov 9 2017 // More than 63,000 recreational boats were damaged or destroyed as a result of Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma, with a combined dollar damage estimate of $655 million, according to the Boat Owners Association of the...
Florida’s RMC Group Promotes Homan to Captive Administration Manager
Nov 9 2017 // RMC Group, a Naples, Fla.-based international provider of insurance, risk management, retirement and actuarial consulting services, has promoted Jessica Homan to captive administration manager. Homan joined RMC Group in...
Premier Assurance Group of Florida Taps Cordero-Fleites to Head Marketing, Communications
Nov 8 2017 // Global insurance company Premier Assurance Group (PA Group), headquartered in Coral Gables, Fla., has named Karen Cordero-Fleites its director of marketing and communications. Cordero-Fleites has more than 10 years of...
AOB Abuse Tops Agenda at Florida Chamber Insurance Summit
Nov 7 2017 // The Florida Chamber of Commerce brought together regulators, lawmakers, insurance industry executives and other stakeholders last week for the chamber’s annual insurance summit. Through several panel discussions on...
Commentary: Florida’s New Ridesharing Law Could Set Up Coverage Disputes
Nov 7 2017 // As the Sunshine State continues to attract millions of visitors each year who share clogged highways with commuters traveling throughout its ever-evolving metropolitan hub, it is no surprise that Florida has embraced...
Patronis to Run for Florida CFO Position in 2018
Nov 7 2017 // Jimmy Patronis is asking voters to keep him in his current job as chief financial officer. Patronis officially filed paperwork on Nov. 1 to run for the Cabinet post in 2018. The 45-year-old Patronis was appointed in June...
Florida Construction Company Owner Arrested for $1M Workers’ Comp Scam
Nov 6 2017 // The owner of a Florida construction company has been arrested for allegedly obtaining a fraudulent workers’ compensation policy by underreporting the number of staff he employed, the company’s annual payroll...
Florida Jury Awards $45M to Parents of Med Student Killed in Crash
Nov 3 2017 // A jury has awarded the parents of a medical school student killed in a 2015 Florida crash $45 million in damages. Twenty-nine year old Raymond Astaphan was killed along Interstate 75 as he crossed paths with a flatbed...
Florida Orders Workers’ Comp Rate Decrease of 9.8%
Nov 2 2017 // Florida Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier has ordered a statewide overall workers’ compensation rate decrease of 9.8 percent, a slightly higher decrease than the 9.6 percent decrease filed by the National Council...
Lorentz Joins Florida-Based Universal Insurance Services
Nov 2 2017 // Boca Raton, Fla.-based Universal Insurance Services LLC, a subsidiary of Vanbridge LLC, has added Jamie Lorentz to the firm as an analyst for Corporate and Institutional Insurance. Lorentz joins Universal from...
Florida Woman Has SUV Driven Into Lagoon For Insurance Money
Nov 1 2017 // Authorities say a Florida woman had her SUV driven into Grand Lagoon and then pretended the vehicle had been stolen. The News Herald of Panama City reported Saturday that 65-year-old Debra Jenkins was charged with...
Florida City Settles Wrongful Death Suit at Zombicon Festival for $40K
Nov 1 2017 // A Florida city has agreed to pay $40,000 to settle a wrongful death lawsuit for a mass-shooting at a Zombie-themed festival. The News-Press reports that the Fort Myers City Council passed the settlement for 20-year-old...
Paragon Insurance Holdings Adds Schmidt as Pest Control Program Underwriter in Florida
Nov 1 2017 // Paragon Insurance Holdings, LLC, a national multi-line specialty program manager, has added Justin Schmidt to the Paragon team as Program underwriter. He will be based in Orlando, Fla. According to Ron Ganiats, Paragon...
Investors in Litigation Financing Target Commercial Auto
Oct 31 2017 // Investor-funded litigation is not new but it is expanding its reach in commercial auto cases, according to experts in the field. Panelists at the 2017 Risk Management Summit in Las Vegas, Nev., addressed the growing trend...
