Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Florida County Encounters Problems with Breath Test Machines
Oct 14 2011 // Prosecutors in Florida have decided not to use alcohol breath-test results in about 100 current driving under the influence (DUI) cases in Sarasota and Manatee counties after learning about problematic breath-test...
Florida’s Citizens Approves Rate Hikes Including for Sinkhole Coverage
Oct 14 2011 // Florida residents covered through the state’s largest homeowner insurer will soon pay more for coverage after the insurer ratified a number of rate hikes recently approved by regulators. The Citizens Property...
Florida Weighs Workers’ Comp Hike, Cost of Doctor-Dispensed Drugs
Oct 13 2011 // Florida employers could have to pay more in workers’ compensation premiums if regulators go along with a proposed statewide average 8.9 percent rate hike. The rate change may also trigger legislative action to clamp...
Confie Seguros Enters Florida Market, Buys Trustway Agencies
Oct 11 2011 // Confie Seguros, a group of insurance agencies targeting Hispanic customers, has acquired the Miami, Florida-based Trustway Insurance Agencies. Founded in 1998, Trustway has 28 locations in the state and additional offices...
Lloyd’s Enters Florida Reinsurance Market Under Reduced Capital Rule
Oct 7 2011 // Florida has added its first reinsurer from the United Kingdom to a list of reinsurers taking advantage of a state law that reduces reinsurers’ capital requirements. In an effort to attract more private capital to the...
Florida Lawmakers Contemplate the Future of Citizens
Oct 6 2011 // With four months to go before Florida’s legislative session, lawmakers are already considering the future of the state’s largest homeowners’ insurer. However, there are few easy answers in sight. Citizens...
State Farm to Stop Insuring Churches in Florida
Oct 4 2011 // Florida churches are having to seek insurance elsewhere after one of the state’s provider of coverage to houses of worship has decided to leave the market. State Farm Florida recently announced it will exit the...
Florida Commercial Lines Deregulation Law Takes Effect
Oct 3 2011 // Commercial insurers in Florida will no longer have to seek prior approval from state regulators before changing some of the rates they charge under a new law that took effect October 1. Earlier this year, Florida lawmakers...
Does Florida’s Public Adjuster Law Limit Free Speech?
Oct 3 2011 // Public adjusters would have more access to homeowners in the immediate aftermath of a storm if the Florida Supreme Court rules Florida’s current public adjuster law unconstitutional. The high court recently heard...
Business Moves
Oct 3 2011 // AssuredPartners, Neace Lukens Florida-based AssuredPartners Inc. has acquired the Neace Lukens, a Kentucky-based insurance agency, as part of a plan to build a national insurance brokerage firm. AssuredPartners is a member...
Citizens Goes Along with Reduced Florida Sinkhole Rate Hike Decision
Oct 3 2011 // Florida’s state’s-backed property insurer has indicated it will implement a newly-approved sinkhole rate increase even though it falls far short of what it says it needs. Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty...
Florida PIP Fight Could Affect Medical Referral Hotlines
Oct 3 2011 // Florida lawmakers are likely to consider whether to curb the use of accident clinic referral hotlines as part of a broader effort to reign in the costs of personal injury protection (PIP) insurance. Reforming the...
Florida in Danger, Warns Hurricane Fund Chief
Oct 3 2011 // Florida’s hurricane fund chief is warning that the state-created fund used to help insurers pay off claims after a big storm is in danger. The state has relied on a hurricane fund ever since Hurricane Andrew...
One Frustrated Florida County Tackles Auto Insurance Fraud On Its Own
Sep 27 2011 // One county in Florida has decided not to wait on state lawmakers’ promise to address the insurance fraud and fix the state’s automobile no-fault law. It has passed its own ordinance to crack down on fraudulent...
Citizens Goes Along with Florida Sinkhole Rate Decision
Sep 23 2011 // Florida officials and the state’s-backed property insurer were working to find common ground in the aftermath of the political firestorm over the insurer’s proposed large hike sinkhole coverage rates, with the...
USI Acquires Florida’s de la Parte Agency
Sep 23 2011 // Insurance broker USI Insurance Services has acquired de la Parte & Associates, a Tampa, Florida, employee benefits and insurance consulting firm. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Kim M. de la Parte, CEO and...
Florida Firm to Appeal in Bid for Sunken Spanish Treasure
Sep 23 2011 // U.S. deep-sea explorers must turn over to the Spanish government 17 tons of silver coins and other treasure recovered from a sunken Spanish galleon in 2007, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. But Tampa, Florida-based...
Florida PIP Cost Battle May Extend to Physician Referral Services
Sep 23 2011 // Florida lawmakers are likely to consider whether to curb the use of accident clinic referral hotlines as part of a broader effort to reign in the costs of personal injury protection (PIP) auto insurance. Reforming the...
Florida Approves Use of Revised RMS Hurricane Model
Sep 22 2011 // A Florida state panel has approved the use of a new hurricane catastrophe model that is increasing many insurers’ exposure. The Florida Commission on Hurricane Loss Projection Methodology has approved the Risk...
Florida Supreme Court Weighs If Public Adjuster Law Limits Free Speech
Sep 22 2011 // Public adjusters would have more access to homeowners in the immediate aftermath of a storm if the Florida Supreme Court rules Florida’s current public adjuster law unconstitutional. The Florida Supreme Court...
