Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Under New Owners, Florida’s TRUE Gets Slight Downgrade, Withdraws From AM Best
Feb 16 2024 // Six weeks after Trusted Resource Underwriters Exchange, a Florida-based reciprocal property insurer, announced it had received a $1.25 billion capital investment and new majority ownership, the AM Best rating firm has...
Disneyland’s Mickey Mouse And Cinderella Performers May Unionize
Feb 15 2024 // Workers who help bring Disneyland’s beloved characters to life — including Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Cinderella — are looking to unionize. Labor organizers announced the campaign, saying performers want...
Continued Growth for Surplus Lines in 2023 as Premiums Up 14.6%
Feb 14 2024 // The excess and surplus lines market continued to grow in 2023, with premium reaching nearly $73 billion according to data from 15 state surplus lines office release by the Wholesale & Specialty Insurance Association...
In SW Florida, High Home Insurance Rates Are Driving Away Would-Be Buyers
Feb 14 2024 // (Bloomberg) — Florida’s southwestern coast — long one of America’s fastest-growing regions — is losing some of its boomtown swagger as a home-insurance crisis and other soaring costs make homes...
What’s to Come in 2024: AI Expansion, More Catastrophes, Network Consolidation
Feb 13 2024 // No one can predict the future, but insurance professionals are likely the best qualified when it comes to predicting risk. For this special report, Insurance Journal magazine asked industry thought leaders their...
Castle Key’s 54% Condo Rate Hike Gets Hearing, Showing New Pressures in Florida
Feb 13 2024 // The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation next week will hold hearings on two property insurers’ requests for 54% average rate increases, one of which has already affected more than 105,000 condominium unit...
Two Dead After Plane Crash on Florida Interstate
Feb 12 2024 // NAPLES, Fla. (AP) — A pilot and co-pilot were identified as the two killed in a fiery plane crash on a Florida highway, law enforcement officials said. The Collier County Sheriff’s Office identified Edward Daniel...
Florida Bills on Litigation Financing, Wind-Mit Program Moving Along
Feb 9 2024 // Two pieces of legislation that could help reduce losses and litigation costs for insurance carriers are moving in the Florida Legislature: Litigation funding restrictions and changes to the state’s home-hardening...
4.0 Earthquake Felt off Florida’s East Coast
Feb 9 2024 // Along with hurricanes and litigation, Floridians and their insurers can now add another potential concern: earthquakes. The National Weather Service reported that a 4.0 magnitude temblor, one of the largest recorded in the...
Florida Specialty Insurer Fortegra Shelves IPO Plans at the Last Hour
Feb 7 2024 // Jacksonville-based specialty insurer Fortegra Group has withdrawn its plans for an initial public offering in the United States, just hours before the IPO and nearly three years after the company scrapped its earlier...
‘My Safe Florida Condo,’ Pet Insurance Bills Passed by Senate Committee
Feb 7 2024 // First came the My Safe Florida Home program, providing matching grants to homeowners who fortify their homes against wind damage in exchange for premium discounts. Seeing the popularity and effectiveness of that program,...
Safepoint’s Florida Startup, Manatee Insurance Exchange, Gets COA, Financial Ratings
Feb 7 2024 // Florida regulators have approved another reciprocal property insurance company and it has received ratings from two financial rating firms. Manatee Insurance Exchange, a spinoff from Tampa-based Safepoint Insurance Co.,...
Gallagher Targets Florida Condo Market with Acquisition of John Galt Agency
Feb 6 2024 // Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has acquired Fort Lauderdale-based John Galt Insurance Agency, expanding Gallagher’s presence in the beleaguered condominium and association market in Florida, the global insurance...
Miami Man Charged with Selling Fake Policies to South Florida Car Buyers, Drivers
Feb 6 2024 // A Miami man posing as an insurance agent reportedly swindled at least eight people out of $29,000 by selling them fake auto insurance policies. That man, William Diehl, was arrested recently and charged with fraud and...
Cone of Uncertainty to Include Inland Areas, Where Storm Damage can Be Heavy
Feb 5 2024 // ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The “cone of uncertainty” produced by the National Hurricane Center to forecast the location and ferocity of a tropical storm is getting an update this year to include predictions...
Florida House Votes to Loosen Child Labor Laws a Year After Tougher Immigrant Statute
Feb 5 2024 // TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A year after Florida enacted a law making it more difficult for employers to hire immigrants illegally, a move that has reportedly exacerbated a labor shortage and has added to property insurance...
Business Moves
Feb 5 2024 // East Arthur J. Gallagher, Hughes Insurance Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. acquired the Queensbury, New York-based independent insurance agency, Hughes Insurance Agency Inc. From its headquarters in Queensbury and an office...
What’s to Come in 2024: Hard Market, AI Expansion, More Catastrophes, Network Consolidation
Feb 5 2024 // No one can predict the future, but insurance professionals are likely the best qualified when it comes to predicting risk. For this special report, Insurance Journal asked industry thought leaders their predictions for the...
South Carolina Liquor Liability Market ‘Extremely Unprofitable,’ DOI Report Says
Feb 5 2024 // A report from the South Carolina Department of Insurance confirms what insurers and bars and restaurants have said for the past few years: Liquor liability coverage in the state is “extremely unprofitable” for...
Online News Site in Florida Shuts Down After Less Than a Year
Feb 2 2024 // WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The Messenger, an ambitious online news site that billed itself as a nonpartisan digital outlet and spent some $50 million ratcheting up its business effort, abruptly shut down Wednesday...
