Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
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29 2017 // A lawsuit brought by victims of the Orlando nightclub massacre against the gunman’s employer and wife was withdrawn from federal court and filed in state court in South Florida on Monday.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...
Lighthouse Property President White Acquires Equity Stake in Prepared Holdings
Mar 17 2017 // Current Chairman and President of Lighthouse Property Insurance Corp., Patrick L. White, has acquired an 89 percent ownership stake in Prepared Holdings, LLC and its wholly-owned subsidiaries including Prepared Insurance...
Florida Resident Sues Mining Company Over Contaminated Land Under Homes
Mar 16 2017 // A central Florida man is suing a mining company that he says built homes over former phosphate mines and didn’t warn homeowners about health hazards. Lakeland homeowner John Jerue filed the lawsuit last week against...
Florida Insurance Agency Employee Accused of Stealing $1M From Employer
Mar 15 2017 // A Florida insurance agency employee was arrested following an alleged scheme that officials claim bilked her Ft. Lauderdale-based employer out of more than $1 million, according to a statement from Chief Financial Officer...
Keenan & Associates Enters Agreement with Florida-Based AssuredPartners
Mar 10 2017 // Keenan & Associates, a Torrance, Calif.-based insurance consulting and brokerage firm, has entered into an agreement to join Lake Mary, Fla.-based brokerage AssuredPartners Inc. Following the agreement, Keenan’s...
RPA Insurance Services Hires Two to New Florida Office
Mar 9 2017 // RPA Insurance Services, a Parsippany, N.J.-based insurance agency focused on providing business insurance products and services to specialized market segments throughout the U.S., has hired Rick and Jennifer Gross to the...
Florida’s New ‘Hurricane Hunter’ Base on Schedule for Storm Season
Mar 9 2017 // Officials say they’re on schedule to open the new home base for the U.S. government’s “hurricane hunter” aircraft before the Atlantic hurricane season begins. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric...
Florida’s Avatar Partners Agrees to Acquire Elements Property Insurance Holdings
Mar 7 2017 // Avatar Partners LP, the parent company of Tampa, Fla.-based Avatar Property & Casualty Insurance Company (Avatar), has agreed to acquire Tallahassee, Fla.-based Elements Property Insurance Holdings LLC and its...
Florida Officer, Chief Charged Over Citizens Academy Fatality
Mar 7 2017 // Prosecutors in southwest Florida have filed charges against an officer who accidentally shot a woman to death during a citizens academy “shoot/don’t shoot” exercise, as well as the officer’s...
