Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
After Insurance, Condo Bills Fail, Florida Lawmakers Talking Special Session
Mar 14 2022 // The death knell sounded for the 2022 Florida Legislative session Friday with no major property insurance reform bills passed. But the ghosts of rising premiums and failing insurers will continue to haunt the state, and...
Florida Couple Pleads Guilty in Scheme to Supply Labor, Avoid Taxes and Comp Insurance
Mar 11 2022 // A Central Florida couple has pleaded guilty to fraud, conspiracy and underreporting payroll in a scheme that produced fake certificates of insurance for construction workers in order to reduce workers’ compensation...
AM Best Downgrades Outlook for Florida Family Insurance Companies
Mar 10 2022 // The AM Best rating firm has downgraded the credit rating and the outlook for Florida Family Insurance and its subsidiary, Florida Family Home Insurance Co. The rating firm said the companies’ long-term issuer credit...
Major Florida Insurance Bill Dies; Roof Provisions Left out of Second Bill
Mar 10 2022 // With just two days left in the 2022 Florida legislative session, a comprehensive property insurance reform bill appears to be dead. But lawmakers were said to be looking for ways to fold some of the main provisions into...
Florida Woman Charged with Comp Fraud After Faking Kidnapping
Mar 9 2022 // A Florida woman who said she was kidnapped, raped and thrown out of a vehicle last year has now been charged with insurance fraud. Alma Delia Duran, 54, of Summerfield, sparked a manhunt in March 2021 around Ocala, in...
Florida Class Action Wants Answer: Must Insurer Pay Attorney Fees for Pre-Suit Notices?
Mar 9 2022 // Florida’s Senate Bill 76, signed into law last June, was supposed to help reduce insurance claims litigation by making policyholders give 10-day notice before they file suit. The idea was to give insurers a little...
Avatar Becomes Second Florida Insurer to Face Insolvency This Year
Mar 8 2022 // Two weeks after St. Johns Insurance Co. was declared insolvent, Florida regulators have taken steps to begin liquidating Tampa-based Avatar Property & Casualty Insurance Co., making it the second carrier this year to...
Florida Panhandle Wildfire Forces Evac of Areas Still Recovering from Hurricane Michael
Mar 7 2022 // Hundreds of residents near Panama City, Florida, were forced to evacuate from a wildfire that destroyed at least two homes and damaged others in an area still recovering from Hurricane Michael in 2018. Local news sites...
UN Report Details Extent of Climate Change on Gulf Coast
Mar 7 2022 // Hurricane Harvey dumped more than 50 inches of rain on parts of the Texas coast in 2017. Then in 2020, ferocious winds from Hurricane Laura destroyed homes across coastal Louisiana. Hurricane Ida hit in 2021, leaving the...
Florida Insurers Crying Foul Over Slide’s ‘Favored’ Treatment in St. Johns Insolvency
Mar 7 2022 // The news that a startup Florida insurance company will assume $400 million in policies from the now-insolvent St. Johns Insurance Co. – without input from other carriers – has set tongues wagging and emails flying...
Declarations
Mar 7 2022 // Trending Higher “If economic pressures dampen pricing, or if catastrophes result in escalating losses owing to inflation, or if more dangerous strains of COVID-19 emerge, the combined ratio may trend...
Florida Insurance Bill Passes Senate, But Chances in House Uncertain
Mar 4 2022 // The Florida Senate approved a bill that could limit many homeowners’ roof claims, which some insurers have called a major factor behind the state’s insurance crisis, but the bill’s future in the House...
Florida DFS Takes Action Against Public Adjuster Insurers Had Crossed With
Mar 4 2022 // After several months of investigation, Florida regulators have filed an official action against a public adjuster that insurance companies had complained about, a move that could soon lead to the suspension of his license...
Report: Nearly a Third of U.S. Hazardous Chemicals Facilities Exposed to Climate Change Dangers
Mar 3 2022 // A report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stating that climate change is leading to increasingly irreversible impacts, with a narrowing window to adapt to it, is garnering a lot of reaction. The IPCC...
Florida Keys School Board Surprised by $400,000 Increase in Insurance Premiums
Mar 3 2022 // Florida homeowners aren’t the only ones feeling the pinch from sharply rising insurance premiums. School board members in the Florida Keys were taken aback this week when they were told that property insurance...
Fines on Public Adjuster Actions Would Double Under Bill Passed By Florida House
Mar 3 2022 // The Florida House of Representatives on Wednesday approved its version of a bill that would increase penalties for unlicensed public adjusters and would improve the digital insurance application process. House Bill 749,...
Former Florida Lawmaker Plans to Challenge CFO Patronis, with Insurance as Key Issue
Mar 2 2022 // A former state representative has announced plans to challenge Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis in this fall’s election, and he’s making Florida’s property insurance crisis a central issue. Adam Hattersley, a...
Could the Ukraine Crisis Move Florida to Fix Its Insurance Crisis?
Mar 2 2022 // With the March 11 scheduled close of its regular session fast approaching, the Florida Legislature remains so focused on putting the finishing touches on its various culture-war signaling bills that one might think...
Arkansas Medical Supply Owner, CEO Indicted For Allegedly Conspiring to Defraud Workers’ Comp Insurers
Mar 2 2022 // Both the former owner of a Rogers, Arkansas-based medical supply and billing company and its former chief executive officer have been indicted by a federal grand jury for their roles in three separate conspiracies to...
Florida Comp Broker Says in Federal Suit That Competitor’s Lies Cost It Business
Mar 2 2022 // Talking trash about a competitor may be as old as humanity. But a Florida-based workers’ compensation insurance broker is charging that some bad-mouthing by another broker cost it a long-standing relationship with...
