Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Florida DMV Changes Drivers’ License Process to Prevent Sex Offender Error
Jun 10 2015 // The Florida agency that issues driver’s licenses has changed how clerks enter information into the computer system after two people were given licenses that wrongly labeled them sex offenders or predators. An agency...
Florida Vet, Wife Charged With Forging Pet Health Certificates
Jun 9 2015 // A Lakeland, Fla. veterinarian and his wife have been charged with forging pet health certificates to trick consumers into believing they were buying healthy animals. Dr. Christopher Carrier, owner of Care Animal Clinic in...
Price Declines Slow on June U.S. Reinsurance Renewals: Guy Carpenter
Jun 5 2015 // After two years of price decreases averaging 15 percent on U.S. property catastrophe placements, risk-adjusted pricing moderated at the most recent June renewals. Reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter & Co. reported that...
Florida Governor Vetoes Changes to Citizens Depopulation Program
Jun 4 2015 // Florida Gov. Rick Scott has vetoed legislation that would modify Citizens Property Insurance Corp.’s depopulation program enacted to lower the state-created insurer of last resort’s policy count and reduce its...
Florida Division of Insurance Fraud Makes Arrests in Workers’ Comp Fraud Scam
Jun 3 2015 // The Florida Department of Financial Services’ Division of Insurance Fraud (DIF) has arrested Juan C. Garcia, owner of Construction Forever LLC, for his involvement in a workers’ compensation insurance fraud...
Florida Gun Owners Without Permits Get Exemption for Hurricanes
Jun 3 2015 // Florida gun owners who don’t have a concealed weapons permit can now take their firearms with them while fleeing a hurricane. Not that it’s been a big problem in Florida in the past. No one can cite an example...
Texas Pounded by Weather Extremes in May
Jun 2 2015 // Even though it means the commencement of hurricane season, weather-beleaguered Texans are likely pleased that May 2015 has come and gone. Texas was pelted during the month of May with all kinds of violent and deadly...
Lawyer for Defunct Nebraska Insurance Agency Fined $15K
Jun 2 2015 // A Nebraska judge has ordered a lawyer to pay $15,000 for filing frivolous motions in a long-running lawsuit dispute over a defunct insurance company’s assets. The case that dates back to 1998 is far from over because...
Florida Supreme Court: UCF Athletic Association Entitled to Sovereign Immunity
Jun 2 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 1 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 them, a new...
Florida Insurance Rates Still High Despite Several Storm-Free Seasons
Jun 1 2015 // Living in a (semi)-tropical paradise has a price – and apparently, not even going nine years without a major hurricane strike will change that. While Florida’s property insurance market has stabilized somewhat...
Florida Will Not Appeal Decision Favoring Deloitte in Poe Financial Collapse
Jun 1 2015 // The Florida Department of Financial Services (DFS) will not appeal the recent jury decision that found Deloitte & Touche not liable in the insolvency of Tampa-based Poe Financial Group following the unprecedented...
Report: Florida Coastal Communities Rebuilt, Ready to Face Future Storms
May 29 2015 // Since eight hurricanes whipped through Florida during back-to-back seasons a decade ago, causing $33 billion in insurance claims, the state’s coastal communities have added an additional 1.5 million people and almost...
Former Florida Highway Patrol Officer Pleads Guilty to Selling Accident Reports
May 28 2015 // A former Florida Highway Patrol trooper could get prison time after pleading guilty to an extortion charge for accepting bribes for selling confidential accident reports. The ex-trooper, Kirk Chambers, pleaded guilty last...
Cement Company Negligence Charge Dismissed in Florida Teen Suicide Suit
May 27 2015 // A judge in Florida has tossed a portion of a lawsuit that alleged negligence against a cement company in the death of a 12-year-old central Florida girl who committed suicide after being bullied. Rebecca Sedwick jumped to...
Florida ‘House of Horrors’ Dentist Surrenders License
May 26 2015 // A Florida children’s dentist accused of running a “house of horrors” that included performing surgical procedures without anesthetic has agreed to stop practicing dentistry. Dr. Howard Schneider of...
Florida Supreme Court Rules Medical Malpractice Caps Aren’t Retroactive
May 26 2015 // A 2003 law capping medical malpractice lawsuit awards at $500,000 can’t be applied retroactively. That’s what the Supreme Court ruled in a Miami-Dade County case in which a woman suffered permanent damage to...
Florida Officials Find 103 Card Skimmers at Gas Stations Statewide
May 22 2015 // Officials with Florida’s Department of Agriculture say 103 skimmer devices that are used for identity theft have been discovered at more than 7,500 gas stations it inspected. The agency announced its findings this...
30 More Arrested in Second Wave of Massive Florida Insurance Fraud Scheme
May 21 2015 // Florida CFO and State Fire Marshal Jeff Atwater, alongside Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, has made more than 30 arrests during the second wave of a collaborative state and local operation known as...
Florida-Based Orchid Underwriters Appoints Butler As CFO
May 20 2015 // Orchid Underwriters Insurance Agency, LLC, a specialty underwriter of property insurance focusing on coastal properties, has named Lynda Butler as chief financial officer. She will also become a member of the Executive...
