Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Rebuilding in Wildfire Zones: A One-Stop Shop for Wildfire Victims
Oct 6 2020 // California is on fire. Already this year, thousands of people have lost their homes, and communities are struggling to figure out how to rebuild. Nikki Pechet wants to be the person they turn to. Pechet co-founded...
Cypress P&C of Florida Promotes Rine to President, Names Hillier as CFO, Treasurer
Oct 6 2020 // Cypress Property & Casualty Insurance Co. has promoted Jay Rine to president and new hire, Trevor Hillier will assume the role chief financial officer and treasurer. Rine joined Cypress in 2017, most recently serving...
Plaintiffs Win One, Lose One in COVID-19 BI Legal Fight
Oct 5 2020 // A federal judge in Florida late last month denied an insurer’s petition to dismiss a COVID-19 business-interruption lawsuit, while a federal magistrate judge in California threw out a similar claim. Both lawsuits...
Hyperactive Hurricane Season Highlights Need for Flood Insurance
Oct 5 2020 // Tropical Storm Beta made landfall on the central Texas coast on Sept. 21 as the 23rd named storm of the hyperactive 2020 Atlantic hurricane season and the third to hit the Gulf Coast this year. Slow moving Beta dumped...
CaseGlide of Florida Adds Russ Smith as Chief Technology Officer
Sep 30 2020 // CaseGlide, LLC, a provider of claims litigation management software for claims organizations, has added Russ Smith as chief technology officer (CTO). A software industry veteran of more than two decades, Smith comes to St....
4 Facts I Learned Watching the Strems Trial
Sep 30 2020 // One of the unexpected consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic is that I found myself able to watch a live courtroom proceeding from the comfort of my desk at home (work). The idea of this was totally fascinating to me...
Florida Attorney Behind Thousands of Insurer Lawsuits Violated 14 Bar Rules: Judge
Sep 30 2020 // Embattled Florida attorney Scot Strems, who, with his firm, has filed thousands of assignment of benefit and first party lawsuits against Florida property insurers over the last several years, has been found by a...
MGA New Paradigm Aims to Bridge the Natural Catastrophe Protection Gap
Sep 29 2020 // Evan Glassman saw a gap in the property insurance market—literally. Glassman, working as a retail producer in south Florida for most of his career, realized that the insurance industry’s products were not fully...
Florida Supreme Court Caps High School Shooting Liability at $300K
Sep 29 2020 // The Florida Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a school district can’t be forced to pay more than $300,000 total to the victims or their families in the Parkland high school massacre that left 17 people dead and...
Florida Gov Lifts Virus Restrictions On All Businesses
Sep 28 2020 // Gov. Ron DeSantis lifted all restrictions on restaurants and other businesses in Florida on Friday, and banned local fines against people who refuse to wear masks as he seeks to reopen the state’s economy despite the...
Florida Peninsula Promotes Gonzalez to Director of Agency Support
Sep 28 2020 // The Florida Peninsula Insurance family of companies, which includes Edison Insurance Co., has promoted Mariella Gonzalez to director of Agency Support. In addition to her current role as director of Community Involvement,...
Tiger King’s Carole Baskin Sued in Florida for Defamation by Former Assistant
Sep 25 2020 // Carole Baskin, who became a pop culture sensation due to Netflix’s docuseries “Tiger King,” is being sued for defamation by a former assistant. As part of the lawsuit, the daughters of Baskin’s...
Florida Peninsula Promotes Austin to Director of Special Investigations
Sep 23 2020 // The board of Florida Peninsula Insurance Co., a top 10 homeowners insurance company in Florida, has promoted Virginia Austin to director of Special Investigations. Virginia Austin Austin, who began her career with Florida...
Florida OKs Emergency Adjusters, Brings In Fraud Strike Teams for Sally Recovery
Sep 23 2020 // The Florida Department of Financial Services has deployed its Disaster Fraud Action Strike Team (DFAST) to the Florida Panhandle, as well as activated the state’s emergency adjuster license system to assist with...
Insurer Impact from Sally Expected to be Moderate; Losses Estimated at $1B to $3B
Sep 23 2020 // Insured losses from Hurricane Sally could reach as much as $3 billion, according to catastrophe modelers, but ratings agency Moody’s expects a moderate impact on property & casualty insurers and...
Florida’s Citizens Board of Governors: Beruff In, State Rep Diaz Out
Sep 22 2020 // Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-run insurer of last resort, announced two recent changes to its board of governors. Joining the board in August was Carlos Beruff, a Manatee County businessman....
Hurricane Sally Adds to Mounting Losses in Historic Gulf Coast Storm Season
Sep 21 2020 // Hundreds of thousands of people were without power Friday along the Alabama coast and the Florida Panhandle in the aftermath of Hurricane Sally as officials assessed millions of dollars in damage that included a broken...
The Villages of Florida Adds 3 from State Farm to Personal Lines Team
Sep 21 2020 // The Villages Insurance Partners has added 3 former State Farm employees to its Personal Lines Insurance team. Specializing in home, auto and golf car insurance, Chelsea Allen, Julia Skillman and Lacey Maher collectively...
Florida’s Citizens Urges Insureds to Avoid Fraud, Scams After Hurricane Sally
Sep 18 2020 // In an effort to help insureds avoid falling victim to scams and abuse, as well as to speed up the claims process, Citizens Property Insurance Corp. is urging its policyholders to “Call Citizens First” as they...
Update: Rains from Remnants of Hurricane Sally Wreak Havoc on Southeast States
Sep 17 2020 // GULF SHORES, Ala., Sept 17 – 06:00 PM – The remnants of Hurricane Sally dumped more than a foot of rain over the U.S. Southeast on Thursday, killed at least one person, washed out bridges and roads and left...
