Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Florida Approves Lower Collateral for Reinsurer Tokio Millennium
Feb 28 2011 // Florida has approved lower collateral payments for another Bermuda reinsurer, the eighth foreign reinsurer to be granted this approval by the state. Tokio Millennium Re Ltd., a subsidiary of Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire...
Florida Officials Question Cost of Red Light Cameras
Feb 25 2011 // Some South Florida officials say it’s becoming too costly to use automatic cameras to ticket drivers who run red lights. They had hoped their cities would collect millions of dollars in fines, thanks to the images...
Florida Insurers, Businesses Take Aim at PIP Fraud
Feb 24 2011 // Insurance companies are taking to the Internet to combat auto insurance fraud in Florida. The Property Casualty Insurers Association of American has launched www.InsuranceFraudUncovered.com, a Web site designed to...
Homeowners Choice Begins Expansion to Alabama
Feb 23 2011 // Homeowners Choice, Inc. a Florida-based insurance holding company, has taken initial steps to enter the Alabama homeowners insurance market, its first market outside of Florida. According to the company, it expects to...
People
Feb 21 2011 // Rodney Smith Lloyd’s of London has appointed Rodney Smith to serve as the regional director for Lloyd’s newly established Southeast region. Smith will be based in Atlanta, Georgia and be responsible for market...
Business Moves
Feb 21 2011 // Mercury General, Florida Citing fourth quarter losses in Florida of $19 million, Mercury General said it would begin withdrawing from the state’s homeowners insurance market. The company will send the mandatory...
State Farm Florida Cites Sinkhole Claims in Rate Hike Bid
Feb 18 2011 // Citing sinkhole losses and higher operating expenses, State Farm Florida asked state regulators this week for a 28 percent premium increase on its homeowners policies. Sinkhole claims, which are approaching $2 billion over...
Florida Homeowners Settle Bombing Range Lawsuit for $1.2 Million
Feb 18 2011 // Homeowners in a southeast Orlando subdivision have settled a class-action lawsuit against a homebuilder for $1.2 million. An attorney for the residents in the Newport subdivision said the settlement was reached last week...
Florida’s BKS-Partners Finalizes Acquisition of IRMS
Feb 16 2011 // Tampa-based Baldwin Krystan Sherman Partners, LLC has completed its acquisition of the Naples-based Insurance and Risk Management Services employee benefits division. Baldwin Krystan, doing business as BKS-Partners, is...
Mood on Main Street: How Recession Changed Insurance Buying Habits
Feb 15 2011 // The recession has taken its toll on contractors, restaurants, retailers, small manufacturers and other Main Street business around the country and most of the survivors are not going to soon forget the pain of the past few...
Florida Jury Awards $260K to Tampa Smoker
Feb 14 2011 // A Florida jury ordered tobacco company R.J. Reynolds Friday to pay $260,000 in damages to a Tampa man who developed cancer from smoking, court officials said. The verdict was the latest among thousands of lawsuits against...
Elvis Music Suits in Florida, England Claim Copyright Infringement
Feb 11 2011 // Elvis Presley Enterprises said it’s suing men in Florida and England on claims of copyright infringement and illegal sale of a DVD and CD box set of recordings and footage of the singer’s...
Florida CFO Atwater Seeks Claimants’ Feedback on BP Oil Claims
Feb 11 2011 // Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater is asking the state’s business community and BP oil spill claimants for their input regarding the claims handling process of the Gulf Coast Claims Facility. Specifically,...
Gresham Announces Retirement of Sizer
Feb 10 2011 // Gresham and Associates Insurance Brokers has announced that Debbie Sizer, long-time branch manager of the firm’s West Palm Beach, Florida office has retired after 26 years with the firm. Jennifer Marx Klassen, a...
Florida Advances Workers’ Compensation, Commercial Deregulation Bills
Feb 10 2011 // The Florida House Subcommittee on Insurance and Banking has approved a bill that would codify the Florida Workers’ Compensation Joint Underwriting Associations’ current rating plan and create the position of...
Florida Senate Committee Postpones Vote on Property Legislation
Feb 8 2011 // For the second straight week, the Florida Banking and Insurance Committee failed to reach a final vote on its comprehensive property insurance bill. The delay comes as committee members remain bogged down over how to...
Florida Senate Looking to Expand Commercial Deregulation
Feb 8 2011 // The Florida Senate and Banking Insurance Committee has approved a bill that would deregulate a variety of commercial lines of insurance by allowing insurers to offer the coverage without first obtaining the Office of...
Mercury Insurance Suffers $23.6M Net Loss
Feb 8 2011 // Due in part to claims from California rainstorms and Florida sinkholes, Los Angeles-based Mercury Insurance reported a fourth quarter net loss of $23.6 million, compared with net income of $34.2 million for the same period...
Mercury General to Exit Florida Homeowners Market
Feb 7 2011 // Citing fourth quarter losses in Florida of $19 million, Mercury General said it would begin the process of withdrawing from the state’s homeowners insurance market. The company said it will send the mandatory 180-day...
Businesses, Charities Call for End to Florida’s ‘Hurricane Tax’
Feb 7 2011 // A coalition of Florida charitable and business groups is pressing the state to eliminate assessments charged all policyholders to subsidize the state-backed insurance provider and hurricane claims fund. In a letter to Gov....
