Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
States Should Implement Stronger Safeguards for Consumers in Natural Disasters: Rutgers Report
Oct 2 2017 // As homeowners file insurance claims in the wake of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, many could find their level of protection depends on the state where their damaged home is located, according to a research report released by...
Declarations
Oct 2 2017 // Wakeup Call “The Equifax breach was a wakeup call, and with this action, New York is raising the bar for consumer protections that we hope will be replicated across the nation.” — New York Governor Andrew...
Mobile Home Communities in Florida Keys Face Uncertainty After Irma
Sep 29 2017 // Overturned trailer homes are shown in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, Monday, Sept. 11, 2017, in the Florida Keys. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post via AP, Pool) Architect Kobi Karp has a vision for affordable housing in...
Florida to Deploy Anti-Fraud Strike Teams to Areas Hard-Hit by Irma
Sep 28 2017 // Anti-fraud strike teams comprised of investigators working for the Department of Financial Services’ Division of Investigative and Forensic Services will soon be deployed across the state in an effort to to protect...
Florida Keys Expected to Reopen to Visitors Oct. 1
Sep 28 2017 // Overturned trailer homes are shown in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, Monday, Sept. 11, 2017, in the Florida Keys. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post via AP, Pool) Florida Keys officials say the island chain hit hard by...
Nearly 17K Flood Claims Filed So Far in Florida From Irma
Sep 27 2017 // Nearly 17,000 flood insurance claims connected with Hurricane Irma have been filed, and more are expected in the coming weeks. The Sun-Sentinel reports that of 16,786 flood claims filed through Thursday, 3,969 were filed...
Florida Extends Continuing Education Deadline for Insurance Professionals
Sep 27 2017 // To help accelerate Hurricane Irma recovery efforts across Florida, CFO Jimmy Patronis announced an extension of continuing education deadlines for licensed insurance professionals in Florida. Continuing education deadlines...
10 People Arrested in Florida for $500K Accident Solicitation Scheme
Sep 26 2017 // Five Florida attorneys and five of their accomplices are accused in a patient-brokering scheme that brought in more than a half-million dollars in profits. Broward Sheriff’s officials said in a news release that the...
Seeman Holtz Continues Florida Expansion With Acquisitions of 3 Agencies
Sep 26 2017 // Seeman Holtz Property & Casualty, Inc. has acquired three different agencies in Florida as part of its geographic expansion and continued growth throughout the United States. The three Florida agencies most recently...
Note to Texas, Florida: Insurance Fights Over Sandy Rage On
Sep 25 2017 // The destructive floodwaters of Superstorm Sandy receded quickly, but some storm victims are still neck-deep in a battle over insurance payouts. And many victims of this year’s storms in Texas, Florida and elsewhere...
2nd Sinkhole Opens in Florida Neighborhood
Sep 25 2017 // A second sinkhole opened up in a Florida neighborhood about a half-mile (.8 kilometers) from where a home was partially swallowed by one earlier the same week. Orange County Fire Rescue spokeswoman Kathleen Kennedy says...
Scott Issues Emergency Order to Florida Nursing Homes After 11 Patient Deaths
Sep 25 2017 // After 11 nursing home residents died in the sweltering heat of hurricane-induced power outages, Florida’s nursing home industry is now on a collision course with Gov. Rick Scott. Days after Hurricane Irma ravaged the...
How Home Values Track with High, Low Risk of Natural Hazards: ATTOM Data
Sep 22 2017 // Americans are still buying homes in areas with high risk of natural hazards and the homes in those cities continue to appreciate in value far faster than homes in low natural hazard locales. However, the effect on home...
Florida Suspends License of Nursing Home After 9th Patient Dies
Sep 22 2017 // Florida officials have suspended the license of a nursing home that had nine patients die after Hurricane Irma knocked out its air conditioning. The Agency for Health Care Administration said Wednesday that it suspended...
Power Restored For All But 75K Florida Residents, But Utilities Face Criticism
Sep 22 2017 // After a massive restoration effort, most of Florida has power 10 days after Hurricane Irma knocked out electricity to nearly two-thirds of the state, mostly because of improvements made to the power grid since Hurricane...
Insurance Industry Tallies Irma’s Mounting Losses in Florida
Sep 22 2017 // With two Florida landfalls in the same day, Hurricane Irma‘s destructive wind and flood damage could cost up to $65 billion for both insured and uninsured losses, according to a recent estimate by...
Insurance Industry Foundation Opens Charity Fund for Hurricane Irma Victims
Sep 21 2017 // The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF), a nonprofit organization for insurance industry charitable giving, has launched a new disaster relief fund to assist the millions affected by the catastrophic damage of...
Home in Orange County, Florida Partially Swallowed by Sinkhole
Sep 21 2017 // A Florida home has been partially swallowed up by a massive sinkhole. Orange County Fire Rescue spokeswoman Kat Kennedy says crews responded Tuesday morning, shortly after the Apopka house began sinking. She says the...
States Need Better Protections for Insurance Consumers in Natural Disasters: Rutgers Report
Sep 21 2017 // As homeowners continue to file insurance claims in the wake of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, a research report released by the Rutgers Center for Risk and Responsibility at the Rutgers Law School in Camden, N.J., suggests...
Fitch: Hurricane Irma Losses Substantial, But Won’t Weaken Insurer Ratings
Sep 21 2017 // Estimated insured losses for the insurance industry for Hurricane Irma range from $25 to $50 billion based on various loss estimates, according to a report from Fitch Ratings. The ratings agency said these losses will...
