Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Florida OIR Approves 1% Average Workers’ Compensation Rate Decrease
Nov 19 2024 // Florida employers will soon see the smallest decrease in workers’ compensation rates in years – just a 1% reduction from current overall rates in the voluntary market. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation...
Two Florida Employees Charged with Defrauding Aetna of $1M
Nov 18 2024 // It was an inside job, one that cost an insurance company in Florida more than $1.1 million, authorities said. Investigators with Florida’s Department of Financial Services on Friday charged Rochell Green and Breana...
What to Know About Deductibles After Multiple Florida Hurricanes
Nov 18 2024 // Deductibles serve several purposes. They provide some premium relief for the insured. They make insureds less likely to file smaller claims because either damage falls within the deductible, or is so close to it that the...
Would Letting Roofers Do More Wind-Mitigation Work Help Reduce Florida’s Insured Losses in Storms?
Nov 18 2024 // A recent photograph of destruction left by Hurricane Milton’s wind tells the story: An entire roof section on a residential complex in Bradenton, Florida – including rafters and ceiling joists – was...
Rating Firm Says Florida Insurers Will Weather the Storms. Cat Fund Can Handle Payouts to Insurers
Nov 18 2024 // Florida’s Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, a state-created layer of reinsurance, expects to pay out about $4.6 billion to help cover insurers’ losses in Hurricanes Helene and Milton. But that won’t trigger a...
Florida Commission Accepts Three New Flood Models as Storm Impacts Rise
Nov 14 2024 // As with computer models that help predict risk from hurricane winds, insurers now have more than one model to use when gauging flood damage in storm-soaked Florida. The Florida Commission on Hurricane Loss Projection...
Update: Citizens Resumes Binding as Rafael Turns Away From Florida
Nov 8 2024 // Click to enlarge Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp. has lifted its suspension on binding of policies as Hurricane Rafael turned away from Florida and was tracking toward Mexico and was expected to...
Florida Boom Metros See Biggest Drop in Home Prices Since 2011
Nov 8 2024 // An area along Florida’s west coast including affluent Sarasota is seeing the worst home price declines since the aftermath of the Great Recession, as the region recovers from hurricanes and faces rising...
‘Board Certified’ Could Soon Be an Advertising Thing for Florida Insurance Lawyers
Nov 7 2024 // By this time next year, plaintiffs lawyers, who have frequently been held up as thorns in the side of the Florida property insurance industry for their sometimes-aggressive pursuit of policyholder claims litigation, could...
Florida’s Citizens Suspends Binding on Policies as Another Storm Churns in the Gulf
Nov 6 2024 // Florida’s state-created Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the largest insurer in the state, suspended binding on policies, statewide, as yet another hurricane approaches from the Carribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico....
Legal Weed Ballot Measure Falls Short of Supermajority Vote Needed in Florida
Nov 6 2024 // A constitutional amendment that would have legalized recreational marijuana in Florida won a majority of votes Tuesday but fell short of the required 60% needed to pass. The vote snuffs out what was expected to be a rush...
In Florida’s Weed Wars, Griffin and DeSantis Clash With Trump and ‘Pot Daddy’
Nov 5 2024 // In Florida’s weed wars, the big money is going against Governor Ron DeSantis and the financier of his anti-cannabis crusade, billionaire Ken Griffin. The Citadel founder has funded about half of the campaign against...
Will People Leave Florida After Hurricanes? History Suggests Not
Nov 4 2024 // ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The news rippled through Treasure Island, Florida, almost like a third storm: The mayor planned to move off the barrier island a month after Hurricane Helene flooded tens of thousands of homes along...
Would Letting Roofers Do More Wind-Mit Work Help Cut Florida’s Insured Losses?
Nov 4 2024 // A recent photograph of destruction left by Hurricane Milton’s wind tells the story: An entire roof section on a residential complex in Bradenton, Florida – including rafters and ceiling joists – was ripped off,...
Claims From Hurricane Milton Continue to Rise in Florida
Nov 4 2024 // Two weeks after Hurricane Milton made landfall near Sarasota, Florida, as a Category 3 storm, claims and loss totals continue to rise. As of Oct. 21, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation said carriers reported more...
Florida Rule Bars Altering Adjusters’ Reports Without Explanation
Nov 4 2024 // Almost two years after a group of independent claims adjusters alleged that insurers had deceptively altered their damage estimates and low-balled policyholders, Florida’s chief financial officer has issued an...
Regional Banks With Florida Operations Brace for Loan Defaults After Hurricanes
Nov 1 2024 // Several regional lenders allocated loan-loss provisions in the third quarter to cover potential defaults by borrowers grappling with recent hurricanes, primarily in Florida, highlighting the risks extreme weather and...
KBRA Says Florida Insurers Will Weather the Storms; Cat Fund Can Handle Payouts
Nov 1 2024 // Florida’s Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, a state-created layer of reinsurance, expects to pay out about $4.6 billion to help cover insurers’ losses in Hurricanes Helene and Milton. But that won’t trigger a...
ICEYE Analysis Shows Wider Florida Flooding From Milton: 185,000 Buildings Hit
Oct 31 2024 // Flooding from Hurricane Milton appears to have been more extensive than initially determined, affecting almost 185,000 buildings all across Florida, says a new analysis from ICEYE, a firm that uses satellite images to...
AI Chatbot Pushed Florida Teen to Suicide, Lawsuit Against Its Creator Alleges
Oct 29 2024 // In the final moments before he took his own life, 14-year-old Sewell Setzer III took out his phone and messaged the chatbot that had become his closest friend. For months, Sewell had become increasingly isolated from his...
