Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Florida’s West Coast Facing Sinkhole Risk After Month of Wet Weather
Aug 26 2015 // The onslaught of rain that drenched parts of Florida over the past month unleashed widespread flooding that left the ground soppy and saturated. Geologists say that under all the water weight, another problem could be...
Florida Foreclosure Filings Spiked in July
Aug 25 2015 // After almost a year of month-to-month declines, new foreclosure starts in Florida rose in July. The research firm Realty Trac reported last week that foreclosure starts increased 16 percent in July from the previous...
Fitch: Downward Pricing Pressures in Reinsurance Market Begin to Slow
Aug 25 2015 // The reinsurance market showed signs of decelerating rate declines in its most recent June/July 2015 renewals, indicating that pricing could be approaching a new equilibrium, says Fitch Ratings in a new global sector...
GEICO Promotes Florida-Based Rogers to Senior Vice President
Aug 25 2015 // George Rogers has been promoted to senior vice president at GEICO. Rogers’ new responsibilities include oversight for GEICO’s southeast and Midwest operations in addition to his current duties as vice president...
NCCI Proposes Decrease to Florida Workers’ Comp Rates
Aug 21 2015 // The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation said today that it has received the 2016 Florida workers’ compensation rate filing by the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI), which proposes a statewide...
8 Ways Katrina Changed Commercial Property Insurance
Aug 21 2015 // Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans 10 years ago, is responsible for a number of changes in the commercial property insurance market. According to Rick Miller, U.S. property practice leader at Aon Risk...
New Hole Opens Up at Site of Fatal 2013 Florida Sinkhole
Aug 20 2015 // Sometime after the sun came up Wednesday, a woman walking her dog past a fenced-off area in a sleepy suburban neighborhood near Tampa, Florida, heard a loud rumble. She quickly dialed 911. The earth had opened, again. By...
Florida’s Brightway Insurance Hires Azar as VP of Customer Experience
Aug 20 2015 // Kristine Azar The Jacksonville, Florida-based Brightway Insurance hired Kristine Azar as vice president of customer experience. Azar is responsible for Brightway’s customer experience strategies and execution through...
USG Unit Acquires Certain Program Renewal Rights From US Assure in Florida
Aug 20 2015 // Allied American Underwriters, a subsidiary of USG Insurance Services Inc., announced that it acquired the renewal rights on several books of business from Jacksonville, Florida-based US Assure. The terms of the acquisition...
Florida Insurance Chief Calls on NFIP to Hand Over Its Data
Aug 20 2015 // In his ongoing efforts to foster a competitive private flood insurance market in Florida, state Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, recently requested help from the state’s Office of Insurance Regulation to obtain...
Florida Man Gets 6 Years for Staging Car Crashes, Filing False Claims
Aug 19 2015 // A 50-year-old Jacksonville, Florida, man has been sentenced to six years in prison for staging car crashes. The Florida Attorney’s Office announced Monday that Guillermo de la Vega pleaded guilty earlier this month...
Study: In 1st Year, 2 Florida Laws Reduced Amount of Opioids Prescribed
Aug 19 2015 // Two Florida laws, enacted to fight prescription drug abuse and misuse in that state, led to a small but significant decrease in the amount of opioids prescribed the first year the laws were in place, a new study...
Florida’s Brightway Establishes $20M Financing Agreement With SunTrust Bank
Aug 18 2015 // The Jacksonville, Florida-based Brightway Insurance said it received $20 million in bank financing through SunTrust Bank to help fund its national expansion. Brightway is a national property/casualty insurance agency...
Florida Commissioner McCarty Says NFIP Rates May Be Unfairly Discriminatory
Aug 18 2015 // Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty said on Aug. 14 that the National Flood Insurance Program’s (NFIP) rates for Florida may be “unfairly discriminatory” and that his office will ask for the...
Bauknight Insurance Promotes Green to VP of Operations in Florida
Aug 17 2015 // Bauknight Insurance, an independent insurance agency in Spring Hill, Florida, promoted Steven V. Green, Jr., to vice president of operations from office manager. Green joined Bauknight Insurance in 2010. He has been in the...
People – Southeast
Aug 17 2015 // Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater has appointed Sha’Ron James as the state’s Insurance Consumer Advocate effective August 3. The role of Florida’s Insurance Consumer Advocate is to...
Florida to Conduct Public Hearing on Citizens’ Proposed Rate Changes
Aug 14 2015 // The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation announced that it will conduct a public hearing later this month to discuss Citizens Property Insurance Corporation’s proposed 2016 rate changes for its business in the...
SUNZ Insurance Hires Stevens as President in Florida
Aug 14 2015 // Therese A. Stevens SUNZ Insurance Company, a workers’ compensation insurer based in Sarasota, Florida, hired Therese A. Stevens as president. An insurance executive with over 25 years of leadership experience in the...
Florida’s Heritage Approved to Write P/C Insurance in North Carolina
Aug 14 2015 // Heritage Insurance Holdings Inc., a property/casualty insurance holding company in Clearwater, Florida, announced that its subsidiary Heritage Property & Casualty Company (Heritage P&C) was approved to write...
Johnson & Johnson Acquires John Handel & Associates in Florida
Aug 13 2015 // Managing general agency Johnson & Johnson, Inc. (J&J) has acquired John Handel & Associates, Inc. (JHA), located in St. Petersburg, Fla. Under its new ownership, JHA will continue to offer the same products and...
