Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Florida Study Finds Recreational Fishermen Lost $585M in Gulf Oil Spill
Sep 11 2014 // Recreational anglers who normally fish in the Gulf lost up to $585 million from lost fishing opportunities in the year of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and could be entitled to compensation, according to a new University...
How Strong Is Florida’s ‘Revived’ Homeowners Market?
Sep 11 2014 // As Florida seeks to revive its private home insurance market after almost a decade without a hurricane, homeowners are pouring $6 billion a year in premiums into a new generation of small, in-state insurance companies with...
Florida Approves Rate Cuts for Citizens Property Customers
Sep 9 2014 // Florida’s insurance regulator has approved rate decreases for policyholders of Citizens Property Insurance Corp. The approval means for the first time in five years a majority of the state-backed insurer’s...
Private Equity Firm HGGC Buys Into Florida Non-Standard Auto MGA Pearl Holding
Sep 8 2014 // HGGC, a middle market private equity firm, said it has completed a majority investment in Pearl Holding Group, a managing general agent (MGA) focused on the non-standard auto insurance market in Florida. As part of the...
Judge Denies Class Action for Employees Suing Florida’s Darden Restaurant
Sep 8 2014 // A U.S. judge has ruled that food servers and bartenders employed by Darden Restaurants Inc., which owns chains including Olive Garden, the Capital Grille and LongHorn Steakhouse, cannot sue the company as a group for...
Florida’s Crist, Scott Spar Over Property Insurance in Race for Governor
Sep 8 2014 // Democrat Charlie Crist said he successfully reduced rising property insurance rates as governor and will do so again if elected, vowing to repeal a law enacted under Republican Gov. Rick Scott that he said provides weaker...
Judge’s Ruling Leaves Florida Workers’ Comp System in Limbo
Sep 8 2014 // Business interests are expected to appeal a recent ruling by a Florida circuit court judge that the state’s workers’ compensation law is unconstitutional because it no longer provides adequate benefits to...
Florida’s Flood Agency Halts in Tampa Bay
Sep 8 2014 // The Flood Agency, which offers private flood coverage that are backed by the surplus lines insurer Lloyd’s Private Flood, announced it will stop writing new business in the Tampa Bay region in order to manage its...
Florida Weighs 2.5% Workers’ Comp Rate Decrease
Sep 8 2014 // Florida workers’ compensation writers have recommended a 2.5 percent rate decrease for 2015. The Office of Insurance Regulation has received the filing by the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI), which...
Brightway Insurance Opens Store in Panama City, Florida
Sep 5 2014 // Brightway Insurance has opened a franchise store in Panama City, Florida. The new location is owned and operated by Dale Turner. Prior to opening the Brightway store, Turner worked with Nationwide Insurance and Farmers...
Florida OIR Approves Removal of Up to 427,584 Policies From Citizens
Sep 5 2014 // The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) announced that it has approved the removal of up to 425,357 personal residential policies and 2,227 commercial residential policies from Citizens Property Insurance Corp. by...
Florida City, Temple Accord Includes Insurance Proceeds
Sep 4 2014 // A settlement has been reached between a South Florida city and a Jewish temple in a long-running legal dispute that pitted religious freedom and property rights against preservation of a historic structure. Temple...
Infamous Florida ‘Speed Trap’ Town Accused of Profiting from Tickets
Sep 3 2014 // The north Florida town of Waldo has long had a reputation as a speed trap, and it’s no wonder. A small segment of highway that runs through Waldo requires drivers to speed up and slow down six times: 65 mph becomes...
Helicopter Crash Lawsuit Against Florida Hotel Mogul Dismissed
Sep 3 2014 // A $100 million lawsuit against a Florida billionaire over a fatal 2012 helicopter crash in the Bahamas has been dismissed. The wrongful death lawsuit filed against real estate mogul Jeffrey Soffer by the widow of attorney...
Florida’s Citizens No Longer ‘Out of Control,’ Says Exec Defending Rate Cut
Sep 2 2014 // Its successes in reducing its insured population and securing low cost catastrophic coverage are driving the request by Florida’s state-backed property insurer for a statewide average 2.9 percent decrease on...
Florida Judge Sentences Mastermind of $800M Fraud Scheme to 20 Years
Sep 2 2014 // The man who masterminded an $800 million insurance scam that fleeced tens of thousands of investors in one of Florida’s all-time largest fraud schemes was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison. U.S. District Judge...
Third-Party Bad Faith Claims Add $800M to Florida Auto Insurance Costs: IRC
Aug 28 2014 // Florida’s third-party bad-faith lawsuit environment may have resulted in more than $800 million in additional auto liability claim payments in 2013. The industry-supported Insurance Research Council (IRC) in a new...
NCCI Proposes Average Workers’ Comp Rate Decrease of 2.5% in Florida
Aug 26 2014 // Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation announced it received the 2015 Florida workers’ compensation rate filing by the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI), which proposes a statewide average...
Florida Reports Record Number of Prescribed Burns
Aug 25 2014 // Florida state officials say they’ve overseen a record number of prescribed burns over the past year. The Florida Forest Service reported prescribed fires covering more than 2.5 million acres. The Florida Department...
Florida’s Flood Agency Stops Writing New Business in Tampa Bay Region
Aug 25 2014 // One of the first entities to step forward and provide private flood insurance in Florida has announced it will stop writing new business in the Tampa Bay region in order to manage its exposure. The Flood Agency, which...
