Latest Florida Headlines

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

Florida-Based Anchor Insurance Appoints Wortman as President, Pawlowski as COO

Feb 18 2016 // Anchor Insurance appointed John Wortman as its new president and Kevin Pawlowski as its chief operating officer, effective February 9, 2016. John Wortman Wortman most recently served on Florida’s Citizens Insurance...

Kentucky Commish Green Lights Aetna-Humana Acquisition, Florida Approves Deal

Feb 18 2016 // Louisville, Ky.-based Humana has been approved for takeover by Aetna by Kentucky regulators, according to a statement from the Kentucky Department of Insurance Commissioner Brian Maynard. The order approving the request...

FEMA Responds to Florida’s Flood Rate Request, Sort Of

Feb 17 2016 // The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has responded to Florida’s request to review the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) rates but it may not be as forthcoming and helpful as Florida officials had...

Florida Reaches 20 Reported Cases of Zika Virus

Feb 16 2016 // Health officials say 20 cases of the Zika virus have been reported in Florida. The Florida Department of Health announced the new total Friday afternoon. Seven cases were reported in Miami-Dade County, and three each were...

Takata Engineer Pleads 5th Amendment in Florida Air Bag Lawsuit

Feb 16 2016 // A Takata Corp. engineer involved in testing the company’s air bags invoked his constitutional right against self-incrimination in declining to testify in a lawsuit brought by a woman left paralyzed in a 2014...

The Villages Insurance Expands Into Florida’s Lake County

Feb 16 2016 // The Villages Insurance has expanded into Lake County, Fla. The Villages Insurance Lake County Division will extend its offerings already available to the residents of The Villages community including the services of its...

Citizens Launches ‘Call Citizens First’ Campaign to Combat Florida Abuse

Feb 12 2016 // Citizens Property Insurance Corp. has launched a multi-faceted education campaign in an attempt to improve customer claims handling while taking steps to combat what it has called a disturbing increase of fraud and abuse...

P/C Retail, Wholesale Agency 2015 M&A Highlights by Region, State

Feb 10 2016 // When agency consultants at Reagan Consulting hosted more than 150 industry leaders at a workshop on agent/broker mergers and acquisitions (M&A) recently, the mood was upbeat, since brokers are enjoying their best...

Florida Completes $1.2B Revenue Bond Sale

Feb 9 2016 // Florida completed a $1.2 billion in revenue bond sale on Feb. 8 issued by the State Board of Administration Finance Corporation, formerly known as the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (FHCF). The fund is designed to help...

Florida Fights Back Against Assignment of Benefits Abuse

Feb 8 2016 // Florida insurers, consumer and insurance advocates, as well as regulators, are hoping 2016 may finally be the year that legislators address the misuse of assignment of benefits (AOB) for water loss claims that they say has...

Ghost of 2008 Crash Still Haunts Real Estate E&O

Feb 8 2016 // The ghost of the 2008 financial collapse still haunts the liability insurance market for real estate professionals and some are worried the business may be headed for a replay of that crisis. While it is still recovering...

People – Southeast

Feb 8 2016 // The Florida Surplus Line Service Office (FSLSO) has promoted Bryan Young to assistant director of Agent Services. Coming into his 10th year of service at FSLSO, Young stepped into the role effective Jan. 1. During his...

Jury Awards $23M to Unarmed Man Shot by Florida Cop

Feb 5 2016 // A federal jury awarded $23.1 million on Wednesday to a 22-year-old black man who was unarmed when he was shot and paralyzed by a sheriff’s deputy, but Florida lawmakers will have to approve any award above...

Florida Declares Emergency After at Least 9 Reported Cases of Zika Virus

Feb 5 2016 // Florida Gov. Rick Scott declared a health emergency in four counties Wednesday after at least nine cases of the mosquito-borne Zika illness were detected in Florida. Health officials believe all of the cases are from...

Academy of Insurance Partners with PIA of Florida to Offer Online Insurance Training

Feb 4 2016 // Tallahassee, FL – February 4, 2016 — The insurance marketplace is ever changing and continued training is the rule of the day. The high cost of off-site training can be prohibitive for a lot of agencies. Today, that...

Florida Approves 66,500 Policies from Citizens for April Take-Outs

Feb 3 2016 // The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) has approved the removal of up to 65,000 personal residential policies and 1,500 commercial residential polices from Citizens Property Insurance Corp. The following two...

Candidates Wanted: Florida Insurance Commissioner Application Posted Online

Feb 3 2016 // The search is on for the next Florida insurance commissioner – the first one to be appointed to the office since current Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty took office in 2003. McCarty announced on Jan. 6 he would...

Florida’s Wallace Welch & Willingham Appoints New Chief Operating Officer

Feb 1 2016 // Jon Hammond Wallace Welch & Willingham (W3) has promoted Jonathan Hammond to chief operating officer. Hammond began his insurance career with Wallace Welch & Willingham in 2000 as a sales producer. Later, he was...

Florida High Court Set to Hear Constitutional Challenge to Workers’ Comp System

Jan 31 2016 // The Florida Supreme Court will hear yet another case challenging the constitutionality of the state’s workers’ comp system on April 16, 2016. The case, Daniel Stahl v. Hialeah Hospital, et al., has been making...

Florida State University to Use Boosters to Settle Player’s Rape Case

Jan 29 2016 // Florida State University has agreed to pay $950,000 to settle a federal Title IX lawsuit brought by a former student who accused quarterback Jameis Winston of sexually assaulting her in 2012. The school is on the hook for...