Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Maximum Taps Smid to Lead Florida Professional Lines Practice Expansion
Mar 13 2018 // Maximum, an independent, Chicago-based excess and surplus lines wholesaler, is expanding its professional lines practice with the addition of a Tampa, Fla. office. Gary Smid Gary Smid has been hired to fill a production...
Fraud, Lawsuit Abuse Earns Florida No. 1 Spot on ‘Judicial Hellhole’ List
Mar 13 2018 // Florida’s number one Judicial Hellhole ranking for 2017 from the American Tort Reform Foundation (ATRF) is unlikely to be an achievement the state will celebrate any time soon. Quite the opposite, according to...
Trump Gun Safety Plan Includes Arming Teachers But Not Higher Buying Age
Mar 12 2018 // The White House is forging ahead with a plan to give firearms training to teachers while pulling back from moves opposed by gun lobbyists such as raising the age limit for purchasing some weapons. U.S. President Donald...
Florida Legislature Passes Bill Targeting State Opioid Epidemic
Mar 12 2018 // Florida will institute prescription limits on opioids and increase funding for treatment under a bill passed by the state Legislature on Friday. The legislation to combat the state’s opioids crisis – which...
FEMA to End Short-Term Shelter Program for Florida Irma Victims
Mar 9 2018 // Federal disaster officials are ending a program that paid for hotel rooms for more than 27,000 Florida households in the wake of Hurricane Irma. FEMA officials announced Tuesday that the short-term emergency sheltering...
More Than $8.4M Recovered for Florida Insurance Consumers After Hurricane Irma
Mar 8 2018 // The Florida Division of Consumer Services helped recover nearly $23.4 million for Florida consumers since last summer, with $8.4 million of those dollars directly related to Hurricane Irma, according to a statement from...
Residents in Florida Retirement Community Still Evacuated by 6 Sinkholes
Mar 6 2018 // Six apparent sinkholes in Florida have made at least two homes unsafe to occupy. The Ocala Star-Banner reports that the houses in The Villages were evacuated and condemned Feb. 15 after multiple holes emerged between them,...
Managing Time Expectation for Claims Key to Keeping Homeowners Happy
Mar 6 2018 // Overall customer satisfaction among homeowners filing property insurance claims has reached a new all-time high, despite record-high property losses following a spate of hurricanes, earthquakes and fires in North America....
Florida Workers’ Comp Legislative Update: First Responder Benefits In, Attorney Fees Out
Mar 6 2018 // After two high-profile Florida Supreme Court cases threatened to significantly impact workers’ compensation rates in Florida in 2016, many insurance industry experts anticipated quick legislative action in 2017. But,...
Authorities Catch Arsonist Setting Fire to Florida Churches
Mar 2 2018 // Authorities say a man who’s responsible for starting fires at several Florida churches has been arrested. A Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office news release says 33-year-old Brody Allen Seiger was arrested on two...
Demotech Holds-Off on Affirming ‘A’ Ratings for 16 Florida Insurers
Feb 28 2018 // A company that rates many Florida property/casualty insurers believes hurricane losses and assignment of benefits litigation during 2017 could affect some insurers’ financial ratings. Ratings company Demotech says it...
Berkshire’s 14-Year Insurance Win Streak Comes to an End
Feb 26 2018 // Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway’s combination of insurance entities have recorded 14 consecutive years of underwriting profit worth more than $28 billion. The Oracle from Omaha has repeatedly warned his...
Florida House to Vote on Bill to Restrict, Monitor Opioid Prescriptions
Feb 26 2018 // The Florida House’s version of legislation to combat the state’s opioid epidemic is headed to the floor. The bill, which passed the Health & Human Services Committee last week, would impose new restrictions...
Parents of Fraternity Pledge Killed at Florida State University File Civil Suit
Feb 23 2018 // The parents of a Florida State University fraternity pledge who died of alcohol poisoning after a party have filed a civil suit against those who have a connection in their son’s death. Thomas and Sandra Coffey are...
Gone With The Wind: Storms Deepen Florida’s Beach Sand Crunch
Feb 22 2018 // Down the palm tree-lined roads of northeast Florida’s Flagler County, a half-dozen dump trucks are shuttling back and forth along the Atlantic coast pouring thousands of tons of sand onto the local beach. Replacing...
Multiple Sinkholes Open in Florida Retirement Community
Feb 20 2018 // A Florida woman called police because she thought she heard a prowler. She actually was hearing the first of several sinkholes that have opened up in a Florida retirement community, displacing seven people. The Villages...
Attorney, Vendor AOB Lawsuits Top Insurance Litigation in 2017: FJRI Report
Feb 20 2018 // Litigation from the abuse of assignment of benefits by third parties represented more than half of all Florida insurance litigation in 2017, and without a legislative fix those fueling the abuse will continue to get rich...
People
Feb 19 2018 // The Alabama Department of Insurance has announced Jerry Workman as Deputy Commissioner. Workman will succeed Deputy Commissioner and Chief Actuary Charles Angell, who is retiring in July of 2018. He will lead the...
Appalachian Underwriters Adds Workers’ Comp Underwriter Cohn in Florida
Feb 15 2018 // Appalachian Underwriters, Inc. is has hired workers’ compensation underwriter Alon Cohn to its Sanford, Fla., office. Cohn will focus on the production of new workers’ compensation business in the Southeast...
Stamper Appointed Managing Director of Risk Strategies in Florida
Feb 14 2018 // Risk Strategies, a privately held, national insurance brokerage and risk management firm, has appointed Scott Stamper as managing director to run day-to-day operations and help guide the growth of Atlass Insurance Group,...
