Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Taking On Citizens’ Policies Fuels Growth at Florida’s Homeowners Choice
Aug 12 2009 // Florida insurer Homeowners Choice, Inc. reported that its net premiums nearly doubled to $19.6 million and its profit rose seven percent to $3 million in the second quarter, thanks in great part to its taking on policies...
Florida Allows State Farm to Scrap Some Insurance Discounts
Aug 6 2009 // State Farm Florida has been given the green light to eliminate some homeowners insurance discounts but the insurer must continue to offer discounts for storm mitigation steps taken by insureds unless it supports that...
Florida Auto Glass Firm Charged in Insurance Overbilling Scam
Aug 5 2009 // Florida officials today arrested two people associated with a Jacksonville glass company on charges that they overbilled insurers for as many as 1,300 windshield replacement claims. A total of 10 people have been arrested...
Florida, Georgia Insurance Chiefs Renew Catastrophe Cooperation Plan
Aug 4 2009 // Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty and Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine have renewed a partnership agreement to ensure continuity of operations in the event of a catastrophe that causes significant...
State Farm Florida Withdrawal Plan May Go To Judge
Aug 3 2009 // After months of trying, Florida state officials and State Farm Florida have not been able to agree on the insurer’s plan for withdrawing from the state, so steps have been taken to have an administrative law judge...
M&A Activity Continues at a Snail’s Pace Compared to 2008
Aug 3 2009 // Insurance brokerage mergers and acquisitions in the second quarter of 2009 was nearly half of what is was during the second quarter of 2008. Just 39 transactions were announced from April through June compared to last year...
Florida Workers’ Comp Claims Costs Grew in Years after Reform
Jul 30 2009 // Medical costs for workers’ compensation claims in Florida grew between 5 and 7 percent in 2005 and 2006, according to a new study by the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI). The growth rate of followed a...
Suit Targets The Hartford’s Handling of Hurricane Wilma Claims in Florida
Jul 29 2009 // A Miami lawyer has filed class action suit against The Hartford alleging the company failed to pay replacement cost on Hurricane Wilma claims to insureds who had purchased the coverage. The suit claims The Hartford refused...
Bridges Named CEO of Florida’s LIG Marine Program Managers
Jul 27 2009 // LIG Marine Managers in St. Petersburg reported that Tommy Bridges has joined the company as chief executive officer of LIG Program Managers. Bridges brings 20 years of workers compensation and longshore knowledge and...
Waltz Joins Florida’s Mack Insurance Group as Partner
Jul 24 2009 // Greg Waltz has joined Mack Insurance Group, Inc. and become one of the three partners in the Deerfield Beach, Florida-based company. The company plans to change its name to Mack, Mack and Waltz Insurance Group Inc. Waltz...
Insurer to Pay Bulk of $900K Settlement in Nebraska Fraud Case
Jul 23 2009 // A group of more than 200 investors who believe they were defrauded by their Nebraska-based brokers will share roughly $900,000 in a settlement with one of their brokers’ former employers. The company’s...
Florida Signs Insurance Regulation Pact with United Kingdom
Jul 22 2009 // The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) and the United Kingdom Financial Services Authority (FSA) have agreed to work together on issues that affect insurance consumers in the U.K. and the U.S. Florida Insurance...
Florida’s Denial of State Farm 47% Rate Hike Again Upheld
Jul 21 2009 // A court has upheld Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty’s denial of a 47.1 percent home insurance rate hike requested last July by State Farm Florida. According to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation...
Business Moves
Jul 20 2009 // Focus Holdings, Capacity Insurance Focus Holdings, LLC in Sunrise, Florida, closed on its acquisition of Capacity Insurance Co. (CIC), a Florida domestic commercial lines insurer, effective July 1, 2009. Focus, better...
Declarations
Jul 20 2009 // Patterson Launch “Floridians deserve to have a choice in this election. With me, they’ll get someone who has spent a lifetime educating and advocating for consumers, and someone who understands that we...
Florida’s Citizens Rate Hikes Fall Short of Industry Hopes
Jul 20 2009 // After three years of no increases, Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp. is about to hike premiums up to 10 percent for many of its policyholders, although not for as many as some insurance insiders and...
Florida CFO: Insurance Recoveries Total $11.5 Million in 6 Months
Jul 16 2009 // The state has helped Floridians recover more than $11.5 million in the first six months of this year in claim payments and premium refunds, including one case that resulted in a $1.2 million payment on a consumer’s...
State Farm Florida Withdrawal Plan May Go To Judge
Jul 15 2009 // After months of trying, Florida state officials and State Farm Florida have been unable to agree on the details of the insurer’s plan for withdrawing from the state, so steps have been taken to have an administrative...
Today Is Hearing Deadline for State Farm Florida Exit Plan
Jul 15 2009 // Today is an important deadline in the process of settling the terms of State Farm’s withdrawal from the Florida insurance market. Representatives of Florida insurance regulators and State Farm Florida had hoped to...
It’s Back to Square One in Florida Insurance Marketplace
Jul 14 2009 // In May, when Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed a bill (SB 714) to fix a glitch in the state’s condominium insurance laws because he did not like a minor fire sprinkler provision in it, a frustrated Jeff Grady, president of...
