Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Florida Lawmakers Contemplate the Future of Citizens
Oct 6 2011 // With four months to go before Florida’s legislative session, lawmakers are already considering the future of the state’s largest homeowners’ insurer. However, there are few easy answers in sight. Citizens...
State Farm to Stop Insuring Churches in Florida
Oct 4 2011 // Florida churches are having to seek insurance elsewhere after one of the state’s provider of coverage to houses of worship has decided to leave the market. State Farm Florida recently announced it will exit the...
Florida Commercial Lines Deregulation Law Takes Effect
Oct 3 2011 // Commercial insurers in Florida will no longer have to seek prior approval from state regulators before changing some of the rates they charge under a new law that took effect October 1. Earlier this year, Florida lawmakers...
Does Florida’s Public Adjuster Law Limit Free Speech?
Oct 3 2011 // Public adjusters would have more access to homeowners in the immediate aftermath of a storm if the Florida Supreme Court rules Florida’s current public adjuster law unconstitutional. The high court recently heard...
Business Moves
Oct 3 2011 // AssuredPartners, Neace Lukens Florida-based AssuredPartners Inc. has acquired the Neace Lukens, a Kentucky-based insurance agency, as part of a plan to build a national insurance brokerage firm. AssuredPartners is a member...
Citizens Goes Along with Reduced Florida Sinkhole Rate Hike Decision
Oct 3 2011 // Florida’s state’s-backed property insurer has indicated it will implement a newly-approved sinkhole rate increase even though it falls far short of what it says it needs. Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty...
Florida PIP Fight Could Affect Medical Referral Hotlines
Oct 3 2011 // Florida lawmakers are likely to consider whether to curb the use of accident clinic referral hotlines as part of a broader effort to reign in the costs of personal injury protection (PIP) insurance. Reforming the...
Florida in Danger, Warns Hurricane Fund Chief
Oct 3 2011 // Florida’s hurricane fund chief is warning that the state-created fund used to help insurers pay off claims after a big storm is in danger. The state has relied on a hurricane fund ever since Hurricane Andrew...
One Frustrated Florida County Tackles Auto Insurance Fraud On Its Own
Sep 27 2011 // One county in Florida has decided not to wait on state lawmakers’ promise to address the insurance fraud and fix the state’s automobile no-fault law. It has passed its own ordinance to crack down on fraudulent...
Citizens Goes Along with Florida Sinkhole Rate Decision
Sep 23 2011 // Florida officials and the state’s-backed property insurer were working to find common ground in the aftermath of the political firestorm over the insurer’s proposed large hike sinkhole coverage rates, with the...
USI Acquires Florida’s de la Parte Agency
Sep 23 2011 // Insurance broker USI Insurance Services has acquired de la Parte & Associates, a Tampa, Florida, employee benefits and insurance consulting firm. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Kim M. de la Parte, CEO and...
Florida Firm to Appeal in Bid for Sunken Spanish Treasure
Sep 23 2011 // U.S. deep-sea explorers must turn over to the Spanish government 17 tons of silver coins and other treasure recovered from a sunken Spanish galleon in 2007, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. But Tampa, Florida-based...
Florida PIP Cost Battle May Extend to Physician Referral Services
Sep 23 2011 // Florida lawmakers are likely to consider whether to curb the use of accident clinic referral hotlines as part of a broader effort to reign in the costs of personal injury protection (PIP) auto insurance. Reforming the...
Florida Approves Use of Revised RMS Hurricane Model
Sep 22 2011 // A Florida state panel has approved the use of a new hurricane catastrophe model that is increasing many insurers’ exposure. The Florida Commission on Hurricane Loss Projection Methodology has approved the Risk...
Florida Supreme Court Weighs If Public Adjuster Law Limits Free Speech
Sep 22 2011 // Public adjusters would have more access to homeowners in the immediate aftermath of a storm if the Florida Supreme Court rules Florida’s current public adjuster law unconstitutional. The Florida Supreme Court...
AssuredPartners Acquires Kentucky-Based Agency Neace Lukens
Sep 21 2011 // Florida-based AssuredPartners Inc. has acquired the Neace Lukens, a Kentucky-based insurance agency, as part of a plan to build a national insurance brokerage firm. AssuredPartners is a member company of GTCR, a Chicago...
Florida Regulator Slashes Sinkhole Rate Hike, Lowers Others
Sep 20 2011 // Florida residents who have sinkhole insurance through the state-backed property insurer will not have to pay a proposed statewide average 447 percent increase. Citizens Property Insurance Corp. customers will also be...
Florida’s SeaWorld Fights OSHA Findings in Trainer’s Death
Sep 20 2011 // SeaWorld Orlando is fighting $75,000 in penalties from a federal job safety agency following last year’s death of a trainer who was grabbed by a killer whale and dragged under water. A hearing was held for yesterday...
Former Florida Governor Bush Goes into Disaster Response Business
Sep 19 2011 // Jeb Bush, former Florida Governor, has entered into one of the state’s for-profit disaster response businesses. Bush has joined O’Brien’s Response Management Inc. a wholly-owned subsidiary of SEACOR...
Florida’s Household Exclusion Upheld
Sep 19 2011 // Florida’s highest court has upheld the so-called “household exclusion” clause in automobile policies that states the injuries suffered by family members residing with an insured driver are not covered...
