Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Business Moves
Jan 10 2011 // Brown & Brown, Comcover Insurance broker Brown & Brown of Florida Inc. is buying Comcover Insurance Group Inc., based in Dania, Fla. With annualized revenues of approximately $1.6 million, Comcover specializes in...
It Figures
Jan 10 2011 // 20 The number of states fighting the new federal health care law in a case heard by U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson in Florida last month. The states argue that the law violates people’s rights by forcing them to...
Florida Court Nixes 48-Hour Limit on Public Adjusters
Jan 10 2011 // A Florida court has thrown out a rule banning public adjusters from soliciting customers within 48 hours of a disaster or other insurance claims event. The First District Court of Appeal ruled that the restriction on...
Florida Home Insurance Rates Rising
Jan 10 2011 // Florida regulators have approved $718 million in rate increases that will affect 4 million policyholders — even though there have been no hurricanes for five years. The insurance industry says the increases are needed...
Texas Insurer Alleges Vendetta by Florida Regulator McCarty
Jan 10 2011 // A Texas insurance company and its owner are suing Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty, accusing him of being vindictive and defamatory in his efforts to ban the company from writing workers’ compensation...
Brown & Brown Taps Penny as Chief Acquisitions Officer
Jan 10 2011 // J. Scott Penny has been named chief acquisitions officer for Florida-based insurance agency brown & Brown Inc. Penny has served as one of the company’s regional presidents since July 2010 and previously served as...
Cruise Ship Wins $24 Million in Florida Suit Against Rolls-Royce
Jan 7 2011 // A jury has awarded $24 million to Carnival Corp. in its lawsuit against Rolls-Royce PLC involving claims of a faulty propulsion system aboard the luxury liner Queen Mary 2. The jury verdict came after a two-week federal...
Lydecker, Downs Named Brown & Brown Regional Presidents
Jan 7 2011 // Brown & Brown Inc. reports that Charles H. Charlie Lydecker has been elected regional president responsible for a number of the company’s retail operations in the state of Florida and for certain of its retail...
Hub Acquires Florida’s Farr Agency
Jan 6 2011 // Insurance broker Hub International Limited has acquired the assets of Farr Insurance Group, a Venice, Florida-based insurance brokerage firm. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. The company said Farr operations...
Florida Workers’ Compensation Market Remains Competitive: Report
Jan 5 2011 // Florida’s workers’ compensation market remains competitive with more than 250 private insurers writing coverage and only a fraction of business being funneled to the residual market. Also, availability does not...
Florida Approves Lower Collateral for Renaissance Re
Jan 4 2011 // Bermuda-based Renaissance Reinsurance Ltd. has been approved to participate in Florida’s property reinsurance marketplace with modified collateral requirements. In 2007, Florida lawmakers passed legislation that...
Florida Limit on Public Adjuster Solicitation Ruled Unconstitutional
Dec 30 2010 // A Florida court has thrown out a rule banning public adjusters from soliciting customers within 48 hours of a disaster or other insurance claims event. The First District Court of Appeal ruled that the restriction on...
Immunity for Medicaid Providers Would Cost Taxpayers: Florida CFO Sink
Dec 30 2010 // Shielding Medicaid providers from lawsuits for negligent acts could cost Florida’s taxpayers an estimated $69 million per year in payments for private provider’s mistakes, according to a new report. Florida CFO...
11 Arrested in Florida on Staged Accident Charges
Dec 30 2010 // A year-long investigation targeting insurance fraud has resulted in 11 arrests and three pending arrests connected with four Florida chiropractic clinics. In January, the Collier County Sheriff’s Office Organized...
Florida Student Settles Over Facebook Suspension
Dec 30 2010 // A girl suspended from a Broward County charter school after she criticized a teacher on Facebook has settled a federal lawsuit against the school’s principal. Court documents show that Katherine Evans will receive...
Florida Citrus Zones Warming; Damage from Freeze Uncertain
Dec 29 2010 // Temperatures in Florida’s citrus growing zones were several degrees warmer Wednesday, the National Weather Service said, giving growers some respite after a freezing snap Tuesday that caused fruit damage. “It...
Rates Rising But Florida Home Insurers Report Still Losing Money
Dec 28 2010 // Many Florida homeowners expected relief from the higher property insurance bills that followed the busy 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons. But more than 4 million homeowners are about to get hit by rate hikes and...
Another Freeze Hits Florida Citrus Growers
Dec 28 2010 // An overnight freeze hit several central Florida citrus growing areas, icing up fruit and raising fears of damage to the leaves and small twigs of trees, growers said Tuesday. It was the second significant hard freeze to...
Southeast’s Top Stories: Disasters That Happened and 1 That Didn’t
Dec 23 2010 // The top insurance stories in the Southeast in 2010 included several disasters that caused considerable death and destruction in the region and one that didn’t do as much harm as feared. The April 20 blowout of...
Florida Case Is Next Test for Health Care Law
Dec 20 2010 // Attorneys for 20 states fighting the new federal health care law told a judge last week it will expand the government’s powers in dangerous and unintended ways. The states want U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson to...
