Latest Florida Headlines

All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Florida Extends Continuing Education Deadline for Insurance Professionals

Sep 27 2017 // To help accelerate Hurricane Irma recovery efforts across Florida, CFO Jimmy Patronis announced an extension of continuing education deadlines for licensed insurance professionals in Florida. Continuing education deadlines...

10 People Arrested in Florida for $500K Accident Solicitation Scheme

Sep 26 2017 // Five Florida attorneys and five of their accomplices are accused in a patient-brokering scheme that brought in more than a half-million dollars in profits. Broward Sheriff’s officials said in a news release that the...

Seeman Holtz Continues Florida Expansion With Acquisitions of 3 Agencies

Sep 26 2017 // Seeman Holtz Property & Casualty, Inc. has acquired three different agencies in Florida as part of its geographic expansion and continued growth throughout the United States. The three Florida agencies most recently...

Note to Texas, Florida: Insurance Fights Over Sandy Rage On

Sep 25 2017 // The destructive floodwaters of Superstorm Sandy receded quickly, but some storm victims are still neck-deep in a battle over insurance payouts. And many victims of this year’s storms in Texas, Florida and elsewhere...

2nd Sinkhole Opens in Florida Neighborhood

Sep 25 2017 // A second sinkhole opened up in a Florida neighborhood about a half-mile (.8 kilometers) from where a home was partially swallowed by one earlier the same week. Orange County Fire Rescue spokeswoman Kathleen Kennedy says...

Scott Issues Emergency Order to Florida Nursing Homes After 11 Patient Deaths

Sep 25 2017 // After 11 nursing home residents died in the sweltering heat of hurricane-induced power outages, Florida’s nursing home industry is now on a collision course with Gov. Rick Scott. Days after Hurricane Irma ravaged the...

How Home Values Track with High, Low Risk of Natural Hazards: ATTOM Data

Sep 22 2017 // Americans are still buying homes in areas with high risk of natural hazards and the homes in those cities continue to appreciate in value far faster than homes in low natural hazard locales. However, the effect on home...

Florida Suspends License of Nursing Home After 9th Patient Dies

Sep 22 2017 // Florida officials have suspended the license of a nursing home that had nine patients die after Hurricane Irma knocked out its air conditioning. The Agency for Health Care Administration said Wednesday that it suspended...

Power Restored For All But 75K Florida Residents, But Utilities Face Criticism

Sep 22 2017 // After a massive restoration effort, most of Florida has power 10 days after Hurricane Irma knocked out electricity to nearly two-thirds of the state, mostly because of improvements made to the power grid since Hurricane...

Insurance Industry Tallies Irma’s Mounting Losses in Florida

Sep 22 2017 // With two Florida landfalls in the same day, Hurricane Irma‘s destructive wind and flood damage could cost up to $65 billion for both insured and uninsured losses, according to a recent estimate by...

Insurance Industry Foundation Opens Charity Fund for Hurricane Irma Victims

Sep 21 2017 // The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF), a nonprofit organization for insurance industry charitable giving, has launched a new disaster relief fund to assist the millions affected by the catastrophic damage of...

Home in Orange County, Florida Partially Swallowed by Sinkhole

Sep 21 2017 // A Florida home has been partially swallowed up by a massive sinkhole. Orange County Fire Rescue spokeswoman Kat Kennedy says crews responded Tuesday morning, shortly after the Apopka house began sinking. She says the...

States Need Better Protections for Insurance Consumers in Natural Disasters: Rutgers Report

Sep 21 2017 // As homeowners continue to file insurance claims in the wake of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, a research report released by the Rutgers Center for Risk and Responsibility at the Rutgers Law School in Camden, N.J., suggests...

Fitch: Hurricane Irma Losses Substantial, But Won’t Weaken Insurer Ratings

Sep 21 2017 // Estimated insured losses for the insurance industry for Hurricane Irma range from $25 to $50 billion based on various loss estimates, according to a report from Fitch Ratings. The ratings agency said these losses will...

Most Produce Farmers Hit by Recent Hurricanes Not Covered by Federal Crop Insurance

Sep 20 2017 // In the U.S, government-backed insurance plans help compensate farmers for losses after natural disasters. Unfortunately for the produce growers that were ravaged by recent hurricanes, a lot of the nation’s vegetable...

Do You Remember Before You Knew Insurance?

Sep 20 2017 // When Hurricane Andrew made landfall in August 1992, I was a young soldier. To be honest, I was much more interested in my young Army career than a hurricane. When Hurricane Katrina made landfall in August 2005, I had just...

Chemical Explosion at Florida Food Warehouse Injures 3

Sep 20 2017 // Authorities say three people suffered injuries in a chemical explosion at a Florida warehouse. Lakeland Fire Department officials said about 50 people were eflvacuated from the area around the Natural Advantage Food...

Agriculture Officials Say Florida Crops Devastated by Irma

Sep 20 2017 // Florida’s agriculture commissioner said Monday that the path of Hurricane Irma “could not have been more lethal” to the state’s farmers and that the scope of damage to the state’s fruits and...

Expert’s Advice to Florida Agents: Report Claims That Fall Below Hurricane Deductible

Sep 19 2017 // With many agents currently assisting clients in determining if they have claims and the insurance claim filing process in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, one most common question received by the Florida Association of...

4 Hurricane Irma-Affected U.S. Attorney Offices Form Fraud Task Forces

Sep 19 2017 // The National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) along with U.S. Attorneys’ Offices in the District of Puerto Rico, Southern District of Florida, Middle District of Florida and Northern District of Florida have formed...