Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Some Florida Citizens Customers May See Lower Rates Next Year
Jun 25 2014 // Florida’s largest property insurer may be dropping its rates next year. Citizens Property Insurance is considering rate proposals for 2015 that would lower rates by about 3.2 percent for most homeowners. The...
Florida’s HCI Moves to Acquire Competitor Prepared Insurance
Jun 24 2014 // The parent company of one of Florida’s largest home insurers has entered into a non-binding deal to purchase another state-based insurer in a move that could affect 21,500 state policyholders. HCI Group Inc....
Broad Insurance Group Buys Florida’s Hartselle Agency
Jun 23 2014 // Broad Insurance Group (BIG) said it has acquired Art Hartselle Agency Inc., a Seminole, Fla. based commercial and personal lines property/casualty insurance agency. The company said that Robert Southard, a Florida native...
No New Rights in Florida’s Homeowners’ Bill of Rights
Jun 23 2014 // Florida’s passage of a homeowners’ claims bill of rights left few satisfied after lawmakers largely codified current law while avoiding controversial issues such as the practice of policyholders assigning their...
InVEST Honors Florida’s Zupkoff As Teacher of Year
Jun 20 2014 // Adam W. Zupkoff, who teaches at Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, Fla., is the 2014 InVEST Teacher of the Year. InVEST is an industry-supported program that provides students with knowledge of the basics of insurance...
JLT Capital Markets Announces Florida Cat Bond Placement
Jun 20 2014 // Jardine Lloyd Thompson Capital Markets (JLTCM) Inc., a part of JLT Towers Re, announced its second Market Re private placement cat bond (Market Re 2014 -2), which closed at $31.825 million. JLT said the “new bond...
Model Promises to Help Growers Mitigate Costly Droughts
Jun 19 2014 // Researchers at the University of Florida say they have created a model that may help growers plant at optimal times and avoid crop-destroying drought, which can cost millions of dollars in a given year. Put simply, if...
Florida ‘Hurricane Tax’ Sent to Early Retirement
Jun 19 2014 // A1.3 percent surcharge on most property/casualty policies in Florida to help pay for past hurricane claims is coming to an end earlier than originally planned. The Florida Cabinet voted this week to end the assessment on...
Florida Private Flood Bill Now Law But Market May Take a While to Develop
Jun 17 2014 // Florida Gov. Rick Scott has signed legislation designed to encourage private insurers to offer flood insurance, but the industry is tamping down expectations that it will result in a viable market in the near future. The...
Cat Bond Buyers Listening to Storm Forecasters, Not Buffett
Jun 16 2014 // Bond buyers are betting more than ever on the mercy of Mother Nature as they seek to boost yields being suppressed by central banks. Demand for notes linked to insurance against hurricanes and other natural disasters is...
Florida Judge Approves Deal for Heritage to Assume Sunshine State Policies
Jun 16 2014 // A Florida judge has signed-off on a plan by regulators to allow a failed Florida property insurer’s policyholders to be assumed by another company, although policyholders will retain the option to seek coverage...
Florida Gov. Scott Signs Flood Insurance, Credit Claims, Parasailing Bills
Jun 16 2014 // Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed into law on Friday dozens of measures covering everything from flood insurance, electronic cigarettes and parasailing. The Republican governor, who has been holding re-election campaign...
Business Moves
Jun 16 2014 // Marsh & McLennan Agency, Senn Dunn Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC has acquired Senn Dunn Insurance in North Carolina. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Founded in 1927, Senn Dunn has annual revenue of...
Indiana Police Using Water-Based Chemical to Fight Theft
Jun 13 2014 // A northwestern Indiana police department is one of the first law enforcement agencies in the country to distribute a theft-deterring chemical that leaves DNA-like “signatures” on property and those who attempt...
Florida Hearing Set for Zimmerman Defamation Claim Against NBC
Jun 11 2014 // The judge in George Zimmerman’s defamation lawsuit against NBC Universal is set to hear arguments on a request by the media company to dismiss the case. A hearing has been set for June 19. The case had been postponed...
Supreme Court Lets Stand $70M Florida Tobacco Rulings
Jun 10 2014 // The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a series of appeals filed mainly by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. seeking to overturn Florida court rulings worth more than $70 million in favor of customers who sued over...
Florida’s Sunshine State Insurance Insolvent; UPC to Assume Policies
Jun 4 2014 // Florida regulators have taken over an insolvent domestic residential property insurer, but a deal is in the works for another private company to assume the insurer’s 37,000 policies. A Leon County Circuit Court judge...
BB&T in Florida Promotes Condo-Specialist Littlestone
Jun 2 2014 // Florida’s BB&T Insurance Services has promoted Gino Littlestone to senior vice president in BB&T-Oswald Trippe and Co.’s commercial lines division specializing in condominiums. Gino...
Aetna, Humana, Cigna Accused of Bias Against AIDS Patients in Florida
May 30 2014 // Advocates for people with HIV and AIDS charged that insurers including Aetna Inc., Humana Inc. and Cigna Corp. have discriminated against Obamacare patients in Florida infected with the virus. The Tampa-based AIDS...
Florida Benefits As Yield-Thirsty Investors Line Up for Hurricane Bonds
May 30 2014 // In 2008, Florida’s government-run property insurer paid Warren Buffett $224 million to agree to buy its debt if a major storm struck. Six hurricane-free years later, the state is turning investors away. With...
