Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Fact or Fiction? Insurance Tidbits of Known and Little-Known Information
Dec 20 2010 // Have you ever wondered what big events helped shape regulation of the current U.S. insurance industry? Or if drivers of certain cars have more risk? What about the most attractive insurance job in the industry? These are...
Florida Citrus Growers Get Break After Bitter Cold
Dec 16 2010 // Florida’s citrus growers got a respite Thursday from the bitter cold that damaged oranges and groves in many areas Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. Paul Close of the U.S. National Weather Service in Ruskin,...
Florida Growers Reporting Ice Damage to Orange Crop
Dec 15 2010 // Citrus growers in central Florida reported ice damage to their orange fruit and groves Wednesday after overnight temperatures dropped to bone-chilling lows in some areas of the citrus belt. “There was definitely some...
Northeast Florida Agents Group Inducts New Directors
Dec 15 2010 // The Independent Insurance Agents of Northeast Florida (IIANF) inducted its 2010-2011 board of directors recently. The IIANF board consists of Brad Arrowsmith with The Holmes Organisation; Michael Beach with The Della Porta...
Florida Insurance Consumer Advocate Shaw Joins Merlin Law Firm
Dec 8 2010 // Sean Michael Shaw, who most recently served as Florida’s Insurance Consumer Advocate, has joined Merlin Law Group, an advocacy firm for property insurance policyholders. Shaw is joining the Tampa office. Shaw left...
New York Prosecutor Faces $75M Defamation Suit
Dec 8 2010 // An upstate New York prosecutor who charged a Florida pharmacy in 2007 with selling anabolic steroids to pro athletes and entertainers is being sued for $75 million by the pharmacists, who claim defamation and false arrest...
First Home Seeks 39% Rate Hike in Florida
Dec 7 2010 // Florida officials will hold a hearing today on a proposed statewide average home insurance rate hike of 39.3 rate increase for First Home Insurance Co., a Florida domiciled insurance company based in Maitland,...
Could Sinkhole Claims Sink Florida Insurers?
Dec 5 2010 // A new state report confirms sinkhole insurance claims are rising in Florida, costing insurers millions of dollars in payouts and expenses, cropping up in counties where they have not been a problem in the past, and showing...
Business Moves
Dec 5 2010 // USI, Kinloch New York-based insurance broker USI Holdings has acquired the New Jersey operation of Kinloch Holdings Inc. The unit, based in West Orange, New Jersey, specializes in commercial property casualty and employee...
It Figures
Dec 5 2010 // $42 Million The amount a Kentucky jury awarded to the family of a 92-year old man who died after nine days in a nursing home because the staff neglected him. The nursing home said it plans to appeal. $80 Million The amount...
North Carolina Escapes Storms; Will It Escape Florida’s Insurance Woes?
Dec 5 2010 // Earlier in 2010, Colorado State’s Tropical Meteorology Project forecasted eight hurricanes to emerge from 15 named tropical storms in the Atlantic basin. Of those, four were forecasted to become major hurricanes. On...
State Property Insurance Plans Face Increased Exposure
Dec 5 2010 // Florida and Louisiana have reduced the number of policyholders covered by their state-run property insurers of last resort since 2008 but non-coastal property owners remain vulnerable to paying for these same...
Florida Agent Leader Johnson to Retire
Dec 3 2010 // After more than 40 years in the insurance industry, Scott Johnson, executive vice president of the Florida Association of Insurance Agents (FAIA), will be retiring in December. Johnson has served the FAIA since...
Florida’s Brightway Insurance Acquires Orange Park Agency
Nov 29 2010 // Brightway Insurance recently acquired General Insurance Concepts, a 20-year-old property and casualty insurance agency offering personal and commercial lines of insurance. The company’s offices, located in Orange...
Florida Retail Workers’ Comp Fund Becomes Stock Company, RetailFirst
Nov 23 2010 // The Florida Retail Federation Self Insurers Fund reported that a majority of its members has voted in favor of converting to RetailFirst Insurance Co., a stock insurance company within a mutual holding company system. The...
Florida Jury Awards Smoker’s Daughter $80 Million
Nov 19 2010 // A Florida jury has awarded the daughter of a deceased smoker $80 million in a lawsuit against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. Dianne Webb claimed her father’s 1996 death was caused by a 60-year smoking addiction fed by...
Florida’s BankAtlantic Executives Found Guilty of Securities Fraud
Nov 19 2010 // Executives at Florida-based lender BankAtlantic Bancorp Inc. failed to alert investors about risks in its real estate loan portfolio as the U.S. housing market collapsed, a Miami federal jury ruled Thursday in a rare...
North Carolina Escapes Storms; Will It Escape Florida’s Insurance Woes?
Nov 16 2010 // Earlier in 2010, Colorado State’s Tropical Meteorology Project forecasted eight hurricanes to emerge from 15 named tropical storms in the Atlantic basin. Of those, four were forecasted to become major hurricanes. On...
Hearing on Florida Peninsula Rate Hikes Today
Nov 16 2010 // Florida insurance regulators today will review proposed rate increases for one of the state’s largest property insurers. Florida Peninsula Insurance Co., ranked seventh largest property insurer, is seeking rate...
Georgia’s Hudgens Among New State Insurance Commissioners
Nov 14 2010 // The Nov. 2 elections will mean there will soon be a number of new insurance commissioners across the country. Three states – Georgia, California, and Oklahoma-elected new insurance commissioners. Republican state...
