Latest Florida Headlines

All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Florida Investigating Cause of Multiple Car Pile-Up That Killed 10

Jan 31 2012 // Authorities in Florida are trying to determine what caused a horrific highway pileup where vehicles collided one after another on a dark highway so shrouded in haze and smoke that drivers were blinded. At least 10 were...

A.M. Best Downgrades Peachtree Casualty Due to Florida Auto Results

Jan 30 2012 // A.M. Best has downgraded the financial ratings of Peachtree Casualty Insurance Co., citing the insurer’s poor underwriting results due in part to rising costs associated with Florida’s troubled no-fault...

Florida Lawmaker Warns on Damages If Cuba Oil Drilling Spills

Jan 30 2012 // Since the United States couldn’t stop Repsol from drilling for oil off Cuba’s coast, it should make the Spanish oil giant pay dearly for damages from any spill that threatens neighboring Florida, a...

Florida’s FCCI Names Executives for Texas, Maryland Expansion

Jan 30 2012 // FCCI Insurance Group has announced it is expanding its commercial insurance offerings into Maryland and Texas. The company has named several executives to serve in a new home office that will oversee operations in those...

Florida Lawmakers Reject Bad-Faith Reform Bill

Jan 27 2012 // Business groups in Florida saw their efforts to reform the state’s bad-faith law end suddenly for the year after a legislative committee voted by a one vote margin to kill a bill that would have placed additional...

Florida Gov. Scott Leads a PIP Rally for Reform

Jan 25 2012 // Standing in the rotunda of Florida’s capitol in Tallahassee on Wednesday, Florida officials and business leaders called on state lawmakers to reform the state’s no-fault personal injury protection (PIP) auto...

The Politics of Florida PIP: Industry Looks on While Pols Seek Answers

Jan 25 2012 // Most agree that Florida’s automobile no-fault personal injury protection (PIP) system needs to be reformed. But in the halls of the state Capitol the struggle over just how to reform the law has exposed how...

Florida Supreme Court Rules Guaranty Fund Not Responsible for Legal Fees

Jan 23 2012 // Florida’s high court has ruled that the state fund charged with paying claims from insolvent insurers is not responsible for paying a claimant’s legal fees on a pre-insolvent claim unless they are specifically...

People

Jan 23 2012 // Woodbury, N.Y.-based Sterling & Sterling appointed Leslie Nylund as president of the insurance brokerage. Nylund will be responsible for the firm’s operations, including sales, employee benefits, client services...

People

Jan 23 2012 // Citizens Property Insurance Corp. President Scott Wallace announced that he will step down as president and CEO of the corporation effective April 6. Wallace, who has served more than six years as the CEO of the Florida...

Outpatient Costs Higher in States Without Fee Schedules

Jan 23 2012 // States without fee schedules have higher hospital outpatient costs for common surgeries compared to states with fee schedules, according to a workers’ compensation study. The study found that significant variations...

Declarations

Jan 23 2012 // Kentucky Buggie “If we would go ahead and pay the fine, I think we would be working against our own religious beliefs. We will not pay the court to prosecute us for our religious beliefs.” —Jacob Gingerich,...

Florida Workers’ Comp Rate Hike Irks Businesses

Jan 23 2012 // Florida small businesses seeing their second workers’ compensation rate increase in as many years are calling on the state to reduce the increase because they fear it will harm the economy. A small business group is...

Business Moves

Jan 23 2012 // Ascension, Falcone Williams Ascension Insurance is expanding in North Carolina with its third agency acquisition in the state in the past three years. Ascension’s most recent acquisition is Falcone Williams...

Klein Joins Normandy Harbor Insurance in Florida

Jan 19 2012 // Steven Klein has joined Normandy Harbor Insurance Co. as a director of loss control. Klein has 15-years of experience in the industry with Patriot Risk Management, AmTrust North America of Florida and other companies. The...

Florida’s Citizens Eyes Risk Transfer While Lawmakers Plot Changes

Jan 18 2012 // Florida’s largest homeowners’ insurer has set the goal of moving at least $1 billion in risk back to the private capital markets while looking to lawmakers to make statutory changes that will assist the insurer...

Florida Workers’ Compensation Costs Per Claim Growing: WCRI Study

Jan 17 2012 // Workers’ compensation costs per claim in Florida, which dropped in the year following system reforms in 2003, showed signs of growth from 2005 to 2009, according to a new study. The WCRI study found that the average...

Florida Workers’ Compensation Rate Hike Irks Businesses

Jan 16 2012 // Florida small businesses seeing their second workers’ compensation rate increase in as many years are calling on the state to reduce the increase because they fear it will harm the economy. A small business group is...

Former Florida CFO Gallagher Joins Law Firm

Jan 13 2012 // Former Florida Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher, and holder of several offices in the state, has joined the Fort Lauderdale law firm of Colodny, Fass, Talenfeld, Karlinsky & Abate, P.A., as a consultant. In 2003,...

Florida Gov. Scott Supports Bill Forcing Accident Victims to Emergency Rooms

Jan 13 2012 // A bill that would force all accident victims to go to emergency rooms instead of their family doctor, even for minor injuries, cleared a Florida House subcommittee on Wednesday. The bill (HB 119) was approved 10-5 by the...