Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
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...
Florida Tornado Tosses Vehicle Driving on Turnpike
Jan 29 2016 // A tornado picked up a southbound vehicle on Florida’s Turnpike near Fort Lauderdale Wednesday morning and dropped it in the northbound lane as a line of severe storms hit the area, officials said. They said the...
Florida Officer Convicted of Taking Bribes in Illegal Towing Scheme
Jan 28 2016 // A former Miami-Dade County police officer has pleaded guilty to accepting bribes in an illegal towing scheme. News outlets report Yuri Millan admitted he took kickbacks from tow-truck operators Oriel Ugardes and Jose Guim...
Report: Florida’s Workers’ Comp Market Still Strong but Uncertainty Remains
Jan 26 2016 // The latest workers’ compensation report from Florida’s insurance regulator says the state’s workers’ compensation market remained competitive and well capitalized in 2014, but reforms put in place...
Citizens Releases Analysis of Increasing Florida Water Loss Costs
Jan 25 2016 // Water loss claims, exacerbated by assignment of benefits, are driving higher rates in South Florida and increasingly across the state, according to a just released analysis conducted by Citizens Property Insurance Corp....
Departing Florida Insurance Chief McCarty Leaves ‘Huge Shoes to Fill’
Jan 25 2016 // News of Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin M. McCarty’s resignation rocked the state Jan. 6 when he announced that he would leave office on May 2, 2016 after 12 years in the post. McCarty has served as the only...
People – Southeast
Jan 25 2016 // The Main Street America Group has appointed Nancy Giordano-Ramos as its vice president/head of bonds. Giordano-Ramos had been the super-regional property/casualty insurance company’s interim head of bonds since last...
Two Florida Clinic Owners Charged With Defrauding Insurers
Jan 24 2016 // The Florida Department of Financial Services’ Division of Insurance Fraud (DIF) announced the arrest of two unlicensed clinic owners from Miami-Dade County. Noel Ruiz of Miami and Alberto B Franco of Hialeah were...
Florida Group Calls for Transparency in McCarty Replacement Search
Jan 22 2016 // The Florida Association of Insurance Reform has asked Gov. Rick Scott and his Cabinet, which consists of Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, State Attorney General Pam Bondi, and State Agricultural Commissioner Adam...
