Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Florida Driver’s Licenses Have New ID Requirements
Dec 23 2009 // Renewing or updating information on driver’s licenses in Florida will get tougher after Dec. 31. After that, the state will require additional proof of identity and place of residence. It’s part of the federal...
Health Insurance Captive Ordered to Stop Selling in Florida
Dec 22 2009 // Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty has ordered captive insurer American Assurance Underwriters Group and its affiliates Worldwide Expatriate Administrators LLC and Worldwide Expatriate Advisors LLC to stop...
Florida Judge Approves Liquidation of First Warranty
Dec 22 2009 // A Circuit Court judge in Florida’s Leon County has ordered the warranty company, Intercontinental Marine Service Corp., which does business as First Warranty Group of Florida, into liquidation. The company, with...
Auto Warranty Firms Shut Down in Florida
Dec 22 2009 // Florida insurance officials have shut down four firms selling motor vehicle service warranties for being unlicensed. Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty announced that the Office of Insurance Regulation has...
People
Dec 20 2009 // Beecher Carlson expanded its National Energy practice by appointing Jacklyn Kearns senior vice president. Kearns has 28 years of insurance and risk management experience. She joins Charlie Pierpont in Beecher...
2009 P/C Insurance Mergers, Acquisitions Large and Small
Dec 20 2009 // Large insurers AIG, Farmers and The Hartford made moves in 2009, as did large brokers Marsh, Aon, Willis, Gallagher, Brown & Brown, Hub and Wells Fargo. So, too, did, many regional insurers and Main Street agencies....
Michigan Orders Florida Man to End Unlicensed Insurance Activity
Dec 18 2009 // The Michigan Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation (OFIR) has ordered a Florida man who is not licensed to sell insurance in Michigan to stop all insurance related activity in that state. The OFIR says Richard...
State Farm to Stay in Florida, Cancel 15% of Policies, Raise Rates 15%
Dec 16 2009 // State Farm Florida will remain in Florida under a negotiated agreement that allows it to cancel about 15 percent of its policies and raise rates 14.8 percent. The deal also allows its contract agents to place the business...
Florida Municipal Insurance Trust Says 2009 a ‘Record’ Year
Dec 15 2009 // The non-profit insurance trust for cities and towns in Florida reports it had a record-breaking year in 2009, with a 35 percent increase in written premiums and a 92 percent renewal rate among its municipal customers. The...
Filed in 1998, Nebraska Agency Case Not Over Yet
Dec 10 2009 // After more than a decade and four Nebraska Supreme Court rulings, a new trial may soon be scheduled in a multimillion-dollar insurance dispute between Florida and Countrywide Insurance Agency. Florida is still trying to...
Florida Security Worker Denied Jury Duty Pay Awarded Damages
Dec 10 2009 // A jury has awarded a Miami security guard worker $150,000 in damages after finding that she was wrongfully denied wages and fired for serving as a juror in a murder trial. Jackalyn P. Strachan served three days on a jury...
Florida Fines People’s Trust Agency for Unlicensed Sales; Orders Rewrites
Dec 9 2009 // A Florida online insurance agency found to have sold homeowners policies using unlicensed personnel will pay a $100,000 fine. The agency will also contact every customer affected and offer to rewrite their policies, under...
National Association of Insurance Commissioners Elects New Officers
Dec 8 2009 // Members of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) have elected their 2010 officers at their Winter National Meeting in San Francisco. The new officers are: President: West Virginia Insurance...
Wells Fargo Insurance Buys Agencies in Florida, Washington
Dec 8 2009 // Wells Fargo Insurance Services, Inc. has acquired iLeader Risk Management Solutions, a single office, insurance brokerage located in Tampa, Fla., and Orca Bay Benefits, LLC, a single office, employee benefits insurance...
TV Host Grace Cited in Florida Wrongful Death Suit Over Suicide
Dec 7 2009 // A Harvard professor says CNN Headline News host Nancy Grace’s relentless questioning of a Florida mother three years ago contributed to her suicide, according to a filing in the family’s wrongful death...
Florida Insurance Economist Spudeck Honored
Dec 7 2009 // The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) today presented Dr. Raymond Spudeck, senior research economist with the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, with the organization’s most prestigious...
Florida Insurer Magnolia Loses Rating
Dec 7 2009 // One of Florida’s young property insurance companies, Magnolia Insurance Co., has been stripped of its financial rating by rating firm Demotech, Inc. Demotech assigned its Financial Stability Rating of A, Exceptional...
Declarations
Dec 6 2009 // Floridians Fret “More than a third of Floridians say they have suffered a personal financial crisis in the past year. Adequate insurance can help prevent a crisis.” —Bill Gunter, chairman of the Florida...
Rate Hikes for Florida Citizens’ ‘High Risk’ Properties Approved
Dec 6 2009 // Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty has approved rates hikes for about 330,000 of Citizens Property Insurance Corp.’s so-called high-risk coastal property accounts. The statewide average increases include a...
State Farm Florida: Stay or Go?
Dec 6 2009 // The state’s largest private property insurer may not leave Florida after all, Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty told Gov. Charlie Crist and other members of the Florida Cabinet. McCarty, repeating what he has told...
