Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Florida AOB Abuse Update: ‘Alarming Trend’ Reaches Crisis Point
Feb 20 2017 // Assignment of benefits abuse has escalated over the last five years to the point where it is now a serious disruption to Florida’s insurance market. The abuse, which is especially rampant in South Florida, stems from...
Demotech Suspends Florida Insurer Rating Criteria
Feb 20 2017 // Recent Florida Supreme Court decisions and ongoing abuse in Florida’s insurance market have led ratings company Demotech to announce it is changing the criteria it uses when rating insurers in the state. The decision...
NEBCO Insurance Services Expands into Florida, Opens First Office in Naples
Feb 17 2017 // NEBCO Insurance Services has opened an office in Naples, Fla. The Greenwich, Conn.-based independent insurance agency provides asset and lifestyle protection for high-net-worth individuals nationwide. The recently opened...
Florida-Based Main Street America Appoints Bastian as National Account Executive
Feb 17 2017 // The Main Street America Group, a super-regional property/casualty insurance company, has announced the appointment of Anne Bastian to national account executive, a newly established role within the company’s field...
Florida’s CFO Atwater to Step Down After 2017 Legislative Session
Feb 16 2017 // In a move sure to shake up Florida’s political landscape, Jeff Atwater, the state’s chief financial officer, resigned Feb. 10 to take a job at Florida Atlantic University. Atwater, a Republican from Palm Beach...
Florida School District Hit by Data Breach Affecting 7K Employees Has Cyber Insurance
Feb 15 2017 // Authorities say as many as 7,700 Manatee County school employees are at risk of being victims of a data breach. School officials learned earlier this month that two payroll employees of the school district along...
Heat Is on Florida Lawmakers to Fix Assignment of Benefits Crisis
Feb 15 2017 // Florida’s insurance industry will apply significant pressure on lawmakers to pass assignments of benefit (AOB) reform in the upcoming legislative session as consumers face rate increases and a looming coverage...
Florida-based American Integrity Launches Golf Cart Insurance
Feb 14 2017 // American Integrity Insurance Co., a Florida-based insurance provider, has launched a standalone golf cart insurance program. The American Integrity golf cart insurance policy will have similar coverage types that are often...
Customer in Florida Salon Injured by Gunshot from Next-Door Gun Store
Feb 13 2017 // A customer at a nail salon in Florida was accidentally shot after an employee of a gun store next-door inadvertently discharged a gun. The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release that 19-year-old...
Florida Circus Act Gone Wrong: 5 Tightrope Walkers Injured by 30 Foot Fall
Feb 10 2017 // It was supposed to be the headline act for Circus Sarasota: a high-wire pyramid some 30 feet in the air. But during practice Wednesday – two days before the show’s opening – an accident befell the eight...
Florida’s AOB Abuse by the Numbers: ‘Alarming Trend’ Reaches Crisis Point
Feb 9 2017 // Assignment of benefits abuse has escalated over the last five years to the point where it is now a serious disruption to Florida’s insurance market. The abuse, which is especially rampant in South Florida, stems from...
The Villages Insurance in Florida Hires Ingram as Personal Lines Advisor
Feb 9 2017 // The Villages Insurance of Florida has added Dana Ingram to its Southern Trace location. Ingram will be one of two certified Personal Lines Advisors at this location, specializing in home, auto and golf car policies. Ingram...
Florida Mosque Arsonist Sentenced to 30 Years
Feb 8 2017 // An ex-convict who posted anti-Islamic rants online pleaded no contest and was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Monday for setting fire to a mosque that the Orlando nightclub shooter attended occasionally. Joseph...
Proof of Loss Deadline Extended for Florida Hurricane Matthew Claims
Feb 8 2017 // The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has granted another extension giving National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) policyholders in Florida an additional...
Greene & Associates Opens Office in Florida; Adds Fuchs to Underwriting Team
Feb 8 2017 // Underwriting manager and wholesale broker in Greene & Associates, based in East Aurora, N.Y., has opened its an office in Bradenton, Fla., and hired Don Fuchs to its underwriting team. Fuchs has more than 35 years of...
Demotech Suspends Florida Insurer Rating Criteria; Says Downgrades Coming
Feb 7 2017 // Recent Florida Supreme Court decisions and ongoing abuse in Florida’s insurance market have led a ratings company to change the criteria it uses when rating insurers in the state. The announcement comes as insurers...
Food Poisoning Suspected of Sickening 28 Kids at Florida Science Fair
Feb 7 2017 // Authorities say more than two dozen kids attending a science competition in north Florida fell ill and were taken to the hospital after eating a catered lunch. The Columbia County Sheriff’s Office said on its...
Florida Approves 15K Citizens Policies for April Take-Outs
Feb 6 2017 // The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) has approved the following company to participate in the April Citizens Property Insurance Corp. take-out period. April 18, 2017 Personal Residential Take-Out Period:...
E&S Market Continues to See Growth in Premium: Texas Stamping Office
Feb 6 2017 // Overall, 2016 ended on a positive note for the U.S. excess and surplus lines insurance industry, according to the Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas (SLTX). Nationally, nearly $26 billion in surplus lines insurance...
Opinion: The Insurance Industry’s Image Problem & How They Can Fix It
Feb 3 2017 // The insurance industry has an image problem. That is probably not really breaking news to anyone reading this, but it’s an important topic to discuss and one the industry can address and, believe it or not, an issue...
