Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Florida Trooper Case Raises Driver Data Privacy Issues
Feb 12 2014 // Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Donna Jane Watts was on routine patrol early one morning when a Miami police car whizzed past at speeds that would eventually top 120 mph. Even with her blue lights flashing and siren...
Cities Lobby for Halt to Flood Insurance Increases; House Vote Blocked
Feb 12 2014 // Yesterday the National League of Cities joined the Florida League of Cities, Florida Association of Counties and others in meetings with White House officials and members of Congress to urge a halt to flood insurance...
Florida’s Citizens Touts Policy Count Drop Below 1 Million
Feb 11 2014 // Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp. reported that its policy count has dropped below one million for the first time since 2006. The state-backed insurer said that recent takeout efforts, legislative...
Private Flood Insurance Agency Now Selling in 15 States
Feb 10 2014 // A Florida agency selling private flood insurance said it is now selling the coverage in 15 states and making it available to commercial risks and apartment buildings. According to Evan Hecht, CEO of The Flood Insurance...
People – Southeast
Feb 10 2014 // SIAA (Strategic Insurance Agency Alliance) has named Steve Tombarelli to the newly-created position of national director of Business Insurance Advantage. “We recognize that small commercial lines are becoming the new...
22 Charged in Florida Staged Flood, Fire Fraud Ring
Feb 6 2014 // A major fraud ring that staged fires and floods at South Florida homes to collect millions of dollars in claims from insurance companies has been broken up with charges against 22 people, authorities said Tuesday. The...
Florida Home Insurer Universal P&C to Enter Indiana, Minnesota, Delaware
Feb 4 2014 // Florida-based Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Co. (UPCIC) has applied to expand into Indiana, Minnesota and Delaware. UPCIC is one of the leading writers of homeowners insurance in Florida and a fully licensed...
Florida’s ‘Operation Leaky Pipes’ Leads to 12 Insurance Fraud Arrests
Feb 4 2014 // Florida CFO Jeff Atwater said an ongoing insurance fraud investigation known as “Operation Leaky Pipes” has led to the arrests of 12 Miami residents. He said the investigation uncovered a scheme between a...
In Florida, Neighbor’s Backyard Could Be a Shooting Range
Feb 4 2014 // Near the National Key Deer Refuge in Florida’s Lower Keys, on a sleepy street called Mango Lane, retired sheriff’s deputy Huey Gordon checked the waterway behind neighbor Doug Varrieur’s home for boat...
Florida ‘Pill Mill’ Doctor Gets 350-Year Sentence
Feb 3 2014 // A South Florida doctor could get a maximum 350-year prison sentence for his conviction in an illegal prescription drug pill mill case. A Broward County jury last week found 54-year-old Dr. Thomas Rodenberg guilty of 14...
Scott Still Trails Ex-Gov. Crist in Florida Gubernatorial Poll
Jan 31 2014 // Former Gov. Charlie Crist is leading Republican Gov. Rick Scott by 8 points in a new poll. The poll by Quinnipiac University also found that 54 percent do not think Scott deserves a second term as governor and that 41...
Florida Weighs 15-Day Hurricane Supply Tax Holiday
Jan 29 2014 // Floridians would get a 15-day sales tax holiday on hurricane preparedness supplies ranging from portable generators to radios this coming June under a proposal outlined Monday by Gov. Rick Scott. Scott, making the...
Florida’s BB&T-Oswald Trippe Adds Dunford in Personal Lines
Jan 28 2014 // Micah Paul Dunford has been appointed a personal lines sales agent for homeowners and personal auto coverage at BB&T-Oswald Trippe and Company. Dunford, who has 20 years of experience in the industry, will be based in...
Florida Homeowners Market ‘More Competitive,’ McCarty Finds
Jan 27 2014 // Homeowner insurance rates are finally coming down in Florida nearly a decade after the last hurricane hit, the state’s insurance commissioner says. But the report by Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty also showed...
Homeowners Choice Sells First Flood Policy in Florida
Jan 24 2014 // Homeowners Choice Property & Casualty Insurance Co., Inc., a Florida based provider of admitted homeowners insurance and wholly-owned insurance subsidiary of HCI Group, Inc., is now selling flood insurance to existing...
Report Finds Florida PIP Reforms Helping to Lower Rates
Jan 24 2014 // Florida drivers are starting to see the benefits of a 2012 re-write of the state’s no-fault automobile insurance law as insurers have reduced their personal injury protection (PIP) rates by a statewide average 13.2...
Florida Jury Awards $12.5M in Baptist Minister Sex Abuse Case
Jan 23 2014 // A central Florida jury has awarded $12.5 million in damages to a young man who was sexually abused by a Baptist minister when he was a child. But an attorney for the Florida Baptist Convention said that the organization...
Reinsurance Costs Helping to Lower Florida Homeowners Rates: OIR Report
Jan 21 2014 // Florida’s top insurance regulator says that state residents are starting to benefit from a more competitive homeowners market as rates have started to trend downward due in part to the reduction in reinsurance...
Florida Bill Would Restrict Insurers in Underwriting Gun Owners
Jan 17 2014 // Florida lawmakers say they want to protect policyholders’ second amendment rights to bear firearms by preventing insurers from issuing, renewing or canceling a policy based on whether the policyholder possesses a...
Florida Citrus Crop Weathers Overnight Cold
Jan 17 2014 // Cold weather overnight did not harm oranges and other fruit across Florida’s citrus-growing regions, the state’s leading growers association said on Friday. “Came through in good shape. No reports of...
