Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Florida PIP Clinic Owner Charged with More Than $100K in Insurance Fraud
Jun 30 2015 // The Florida Division of Insurance Fraud announced the arrest of Dr. Troy Godsey and Renata Berriel Deazevedo for their roles in a scheme to defraud multiple insurance companies of more than $100,000. Troy Godsey, a...
Jury Awards $24M to Widower of Woman Killed in Florida Hotel Cabana
Jun 29 2015 // A South Florida jury awarded $24 million to a man whose pregnant wife was killed when a drunken driver slammed into a cabana at a Fort Lauderdale hotel. The decision came more than three years after a car crossed a...
MarketScout Adds Staff to Private Client Division in Florida
Jun 26 2015 // MarketScout, the national electronic insurance exchange and specialty MGA headquartered in Dallas, has expanded its Private Client Solutions (PCS) E&S division with new hires in its Fort Lauderdale, Fla.,...
Citizens Approves Rate Changes for Florida Insureds
Jun 25 2015 // Citizens Property Insurance Corporation’s Board of Governors has approved a 2016 rate package that lowers rates for nearly half of Citizens’ personal lines policyholders while responding to increased water loss...
Main Street America Appoints Root as VP in Florida Headquarters
Jun 24 2015 // Janet Root The Main Street America Group announced Janet Root has been appointed vice president of internal audit at the super-regional property/casualty insurance company. She replaces former internal audit vice president...
Florida High Court Removes Judge Over Misconduct in Progressive Injury Cases
Jun 24 2015 // A Broward County judge will be removed from the bench for misconduct committed eight years before she was elected to the post. The Florida Supreme Court ruled June 18 that Judge Laura Watson isn’t fit to serve as a...
4 Arrests Made in Florida Injury Clinic PIP Fraud
Jun 23 2015 // The Florida Division of Insurance Fraud has announced the arrest of Dr. Douglas Price, owner of the Florida Pain Trauma and Injury Clinic in Auburndale, Fla., and three others on charges related the operation of a complex...
Florida Man Attempts to Blow up Foreclosed Home with Bowling Ball
Jun 19 2015 // Authorities say a South Florida man who didn’t want a bank to sell his foreclosed home tried to blow it up using a bowling ball as an explosive. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports 21-year-old Tyler Butler was...
Federal Government Sues Florida Ambulance Service over $28M in False Claims
Jun 18 2015 // The federal government is suing a Jacksonville ambulance service over alleged false billing and other schemes. The Florida Times-Union reports that the company is accused of submitting false claims to federally subsidized...
Florida Governor Signs State Insurance Licensing, Workforce Development Bill
Jun 18 2015 // The Florida Association of Insurance Agents (FAIA) is celebrating the passage of House Bill 1133, a bill it sponsored in cooperation with the Florida Department of Financial Services. Passed overwhelmingly by Florida...
Florida Man Crushed to Death in Compactor at Recycling Plant
Jun 17 2015 // Officials say a man was crushed to death inside a machine at a central Florida recycling plant. Winter Garden police Lt. Scott Allen says the man was sorting cardboard with a bailing machine Monday morning when he somehow...
Assurex Global Elects President of Florida-Based Celedinas Insurance to Board
Jun 17 2015 // Ray Celedinas President and CEO of nationwide broker Celedinas Insurance Group, Ray Celedinas, has been appointed to the Assurex Global Board of Directors. Assurex Global is a global privately held commercial insurance,...
Vertafore Acquires Florida-Based Agency Technology Provider QQ Solutions
Jun 16 2015 // Insurance software provider Vertafore, has acquired QQ Solutions, Inc., a provider of agency management systems and a comparative rater offering. The move expands Vertafore’s portfolio of agency management systems...
Florida Busts Major Workers’ Comp Fraud Scam Involving Multiple Shell Companies
Jun 16 2015 // Six Central Florida insurance fraud arrests that break down an elaborate Central Florida workers’ compensation insurance fraud scheme were made this week, according to an announcement by Florida Chief Financial...
Florida Commissioner McCarty Warns Against U.S. Adopting ‘Bank-Like’ Regulation for Insurance
Jun 15 2015 // Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty championed flexible state insurance regulation and warned against “one-size-fits-all” bank-like regulation for insurers in recent testimony before the U.S. Senate...
Florida High Court Rules that Sovereign Immunity Applies to University Athletic Program in Death of Football Player
Jun 15 2015 // A private corporation that runs the University of Central Florida’s athletic program won’t have to pay $10 million to the family of a football player who died during practice, the Florida Supreme Court ruled...
Effective Wildfire Prevention Hampered by Liability, Weather, Development
Jun 15 2015 // Forest managers would prefer to use prescribed burns every few years to help prevent costly wildfires and rebuild unhealthy ecosystems, but hurdles like staffing, budget, liability and new development hinder...
UPCIC Enters Penn. Homeowners Market
Jun 15 2015 // Universal Insurance Holdings Inc. in Florida announced on June 1 that the Pennsylvania Insurance Department has approved the homeowners insurance rates and forms of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Universal Property &...
Oklahoma, Texas Assessing Damage from Violent May Weather
Jun 15 2015 // Even though it meant the commencement of hurricane season, weather-beleaguered Texans are likely pleased that May 2015 has come and gone. Both Texas and Oklahoma were pelted during the month of May with all kinds of...
Florida Bail Bondsman Pleads Guilty to Selling 500 People’s Personal Info
Jun 12 2015 // A former Bartow, Fla., bail bondsman pleaded guilty to federal charges of selling the personal information of 500 people with the intent of stealing their income tax refunds. The Ledger of Lakeland reports 59-year-old...
