Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Landers to Open New Brightway Insurance Agency in South Florida
Apr 11 2017 // Kandie Landers, owner of Brightway, The Landers Agency in Glendale, Colo., is expanding to become a multi-unit owner with Brightway Insurance with the opening of her second agency in South Florida this...
Florida to Help Foster Children Get Drivers’ Licenses, Insurance
Apr 7 2017 // Children in Florida foster care will get help obtaining a driver’s license and auto insurance under a bill heading to Gov. Rick Scott. The House unanimously passed the bill Wednesday that would make permanent a pilot...
Florida Launches AOB Resource, Education Webpage for Consumers
Apr 6 2017 // The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) has launched a new webpage as part of its efforts to educate Florida consumers about the state’s ongoing challenges with assignment of benefits abuse. The AOB resource...
Florida Senator Alleges ‘Smear Campaign’ After Industry-Backed AOB Bill Stalls
Apr 5 2017 // A bill backed by the insurance industry to curb the abuse of Florida’s one-way attorney fee statute in assignment of benefit claims has stalled as lawmakers opted to instead advance what the insurance industry and...
Business Moves
Apr 3 2017 // KKR, Canadian Pension Fund, USI Insurance Services, Carolina First Associates Private equity firm KKR and Canadian pension fund Caisse de depôt et placement du Quebec (CDPQ) have agreed to buy USI Insurance Services from...
Florida Property Insurers Avoid Ratings Downgrades From Demotech, For Now
Apr 3 2017 // Ratings company Demotech is holding off on issuing large-scale ratings downgrades of Florida property insurers for now, after a number of insurers heeded its warning about the effects of assignment of benefits abuse and...
Florida Insurance Agent Gets 4 Years for $100K Premium Theft
Apr 2 2017 // A former Florida insurance agent has been convicted and sentenced to four years in prison for stealing more than $100,000 from two elderly clients, according to a statement from the state’s Chief Financial Officer...
Florida Continues Aggressive Efforts to Stop Zika
Mar 31 2017 // Florida officials say they’re continuing aggressive efforts to stop the spread of the Zika virus. Gov. Rick Scott met Monday with Miami-Dade County officials to discuss Zika preparedness ahead of Florida’s...
Citizens Seeks Florida Agents’ Help Fighting Water Claims Abuse
Mar 30 2017 // As the Florida property market fights what has so far been a losing battle against attorneys and unlicensed contractor firms over water loss claims and assignment of benefits (AOB), Citizens Property Insurance Corp.,...
Citizens Posts Net Loss of $27M for 2016; Says Water Losses, AOB Abuse to Blame
Mar 29 2017 // Citizens Property Insurance Corp. will post a net loss for 2016, its first loss in more than a decade, as water loss claims, assignment of benefit (AOB) abuse and litigation costs increasingly impact the company’s...
Florida Court to Hear Lawsuit Against Employer, Wife of Nightclub Shooter
Mar 29 2017 // A lawsuit brought by victims of the Orlando nightclub massacre against the gunman’s employer and wife was withdrawn from federal court and filed in state court in South Florida on Monday. Attorneys for 61 Pulse...
Florida Conditions Ripe For More Wildfires
Mar 28 2017 // The smell of smoke is in downtown Orlando. On Sunday, a brush fire caused a part of State Road 528 to be shut down between Orlando and the Space Coast. A fire burned last week near the north-central Florida town of Bunnell...
1347 Property Insurance Holdings to Expand Into Florida Homeowners Market
Mar 28 2017 // Specialty property and casualty insurance holding company 1347 Property Insurance Holdings, Inc., (PIH), which currently offers insurance to individual and commercial customers in Louisiana and Texas through its...
Bradenton Insurance of West Florida Partners With Baldwin Risk Partners
Mar 27 2017 // Baldwin Risk Partners, a Tampa, Fla.-based insurance distribution holding company, has partnered with Bradenton Insurance LLC, of Bradenton, Fla., adding the agency to its group of companies. Bradenton Insurance has been a...
Grandstaff Joins Florida-Based SUNZ as CFO, Executive Vice President
Mar 27 2017 // SUNZ Holdings of Bradenton, Fla., has appointed Michael W. Grandstaff to the position of chief financial officer and executive vice president of SUNZ Holdings, and chief financial officer of SUNZ Insurance Co. Grandstaff...
Florida Homes Threatened by Fast-Moving Brush Fire
Mar 24 2017 // Florida Forest Service officials say a 400-acre brush fire has forced the evacuation of a neighborhood and threatened or burned up to 15 homes. Nassau County Emergency Management Director Billy Estop ordered residents of...
Appeals Court Rules Florida Dairy OK to Label Skim Milk as ‘Skim Milk’
Mar 24 2017 // A small, all-natural dairy isn’t being deceptive when it calls its skim milk “skim milk,” a federal appeals court has ruled – a victory for a Florida creamery that fought the state’s demand to...
Florida Man Arrested for Setting Car on Fire to Collect Insurance Payout
Mar 23 2017 // A resident in Orange County, Florida, is alleged to have committed an insurance scheme that included having his car stolen and destroyed to collect an insurance payout. Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater announced the...
Disney to Pay $3.8M in Back Wages to Florida Workers
Mar 21 2017 // The Walt Disney Co. has agreed to pay $3.8 million in back wages to Florida workers for violating minimum wage and overtime rules as part of an agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor. The federal agency said Friday...
Florida Property Insurers Largely Avoid Downgrades, For Now: Demotech
Mar 17 2017 // Ratings company Demotech is holding off on issuing large-scale ratings downgrades of Florida property insurers for now, after a number of insurers heeded its warning of last month about the effects of assignment of...
