Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Declarations
Jan 23 2012 // Kentucky Buggie “If we would go ahead and pay the fine, I think we would be working against our own religious beliefs. We will not pay the court to prosecute us for our religious beliefs.” —Jacob Gingerich,...
Florida Workers’ Comp Rate Hike Irks Businesses
Jan 23 2012 // Florida small businesses seeing their second workers’ compensation rate increase in as many years are calling on the state to reduce the increase because they fear it will harm the economy. A small business group is...
Business Moves
Jan 23 2012 // Ascension, Falcone Williams Ascension Insurance is expanding in North Carolina with its third agency acquisition in the state in the past three years. Ascension’s most recent acquisition is Falcone Williams...
Klein Joins Normandy Harbor Insurance in Florida
Jan 19 2012 // Steven Klein has joined Normandy Harbor Insurance Co. as a director of loss control. Klein has 15-years of experience in the industry with Patriot Risk Management, AmTrust North America of Florida and other companies. The...
Florida’s Citizens Eyes Risk Transfer While Lawmakers Plot Changes
Jan 18 2012 // Florida’s largest homeowners’ insurer has set the goal of moving at least $1 billion in risk back to the private capital markets while looking to lawmakers to make statutory changes that will assist the insurer...
Florida Workers’ Compensation Costs Per Claim Growing: WCRI Study
Jan 17 2012 // Workers’ compensation costs per claim in Florida, which dropped in the year following system reforms in 2003, showed signs of growth from 2005 to 2009, according to a new study. The WCRI study found that the average...
Florida Workers’ Compensation Rate Hike Irks Businesses
Jan 16 2012 // Florida small businesses seeing their second workers’ compensation rate increase in as many years are calling on the state to reduce the increase because they fear it will harm the economy. A small business group is...
Former Florida CFO Gallagher Joins Law Firm
Jan 13 2012 // Former Florida Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher, and holder of several offices in the state, has joined the Fort Lauderdale law firm of Colodny, Fass, Talenfeld, Karlinsky & Abate, P.A., as a consultant. In 2003,...
Florida Gov. Scott Supports Bill Forcing Accident Victims to Emergency Rooms
Jan 13 2012 // A bill that would force all accident victims to go to emergency rooms instead of their family doctor, even for minor injuries, cleared a Florida House subcommittee on Wednesday. The bill (HB 119) was approved 10-5 by the...
Florida Lawmakers Advance Brain Injury, Wrongly Imprisoned Claims Bills
Jan 12 2012 // A man who spent 27 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit and the brain-damaged and paralyzed victim of a crash with a speeding sheriff’s deputy who was late for work would receive millions in...
Outpatient Costs Higher in States Without Fee Schedules: Workers’ Comp Study
Jan 11 2012 // States without fee schedules have higher hospital outpatient costs for common surgeries compared to states with fee schedules, according to a workers’ compensation study. The study found that significant variations...
Florida Lawmakers File Bills to Address Auto Insurance PIP Fraud
Jan 11 2012 // State Sen. Joe Negron this week filed legislation designed to crack down on the fraud that leads to more expensive personal injury protection insurance required of all Florida drivers. Negron’s bill (SB 1860) targets...
Florida Gov. Scott Talks Insurance Fraud in State of State Speech
Jan 11 2012 // In the annual State of the State address opening Florida legislative session, Gov. Rick Scott highlighted automobile insurance while remaining mum on the future of the state’s property insurance underwriter, Citizens...
Florida’s Citizens Property CEO Wallace to Exit
Jan 10 2012 // Citizens Property Insurance Corp. President Scott Wallace has announced that he will step down as president and CEO of the corporation effective April 6. Wallace, who has served more than six years as the CEO of the...
Texas Insurer Acquires Florida’s Physicians Insurance
Jan 9 2012 // The Texas Medical Liability Trust has acquired the Florida-based Physicians Insurance Co. The Deerfield Beach, Florida-based Physicians Insurance has been operating in the state since 2003. According to a 2011 Office of...
Florida Waits on Condo Rates
Jan 9 2012 // Florida condominium buildings will see no rate increase for now. Citizens Property Insurance Corp. has been looking to shed some of its current 1.5 million policyholders. One proposal called for capping the available...
Florida May Tap Surplus Lines to Depopulate Citizens
Jan 9 2012 // Florida lawmakers are considering allowing surplus lines carriers to help Citizens Property Insurance Corp. lose some of its 1.5 million policyholders. State Sen. Garrett Richter (R-Naples) and Rep. Jim Boyd (R-Bradenton)...
People
Jan 9 2012 // State insurance regulators have named 28 consumer representatives to advise them on insurance issues during 2012. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) said the 18 funded and 10 unfunded consumer...
Florida’s Older Drivers Need a Road Plan
Jan 9 2012 // Florida is home to one of the highest percentages of residents ages 65 and older in the United States, but very few of them have thought ahead to a time when they will no longer be able to drive a vehicle safely or...
Florida Investigating Massive PIP Fraud in Dade County
Jan 8 2012 // State investigators are considering criminal charges after finding regulatory violations in almost 90 percent of the pain clinics that treat automobile accident victims in Miami-Dade County. A report by the Agency for...
