Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
BP Lowers Containment Cap onto Wellhead But Uncertainty Remains
Jun 4 2010 // BP Plc managed Thursday to lower a containment cap onto its ruptured deep-sea wellhead in the Gulf of Mexico in a high-stakes bid to siphon off some of the oil billowing from its gusher. U.S. President Barack Obama...
Oil Reaches Alabama’s Dauphin Island; Florida Panhandle on Alert
Jun 4 2010 // Teams of workers in protective boots and gloves scoured Alabama’s Dauphin Island Wednesday for washed up tar balls and tar patties that have put the 14-mile-long resort in the front line of the state’s fight...
Florida’s Pensacola Beach First in State to Suffer Oil Effects
Jun 4 2010 // Oil sheen and tar balls have washed ashore on a northwest Florida beach crowded with holidaymakers and swimmers in what appeared to be the first impact on the state from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, authorities and...
Homebuilder, Manufacturer Worried About Chinese Drywall in 2006
Jun 2 2010 // A leading East Coast homebuilder worried about the malodorous Chinese drywall it was using in Florida homes in 2006, but didn’t alert most of its customers or government officials, according to court documents. The...
Florida’s Emergency Chief Hopes Agency Turmoil Is Over
Jun 2 2010 // Florida’s Division of Emergency Management, under a second director since Craig Fugate left a year ago to run its federal counterpart, is getting a jump start on the hurricane season. With the storm season to begin...
New Florida Law Adjusts Property Assessments for Drywall Effects
Jun 2 2010 // Florida Governor Charlie Crist today signed legislation making properties affected by imported or domestic drywall eligible for an adjustment of their assessed value. The bill, HB 965, applies to the 2010 and subsequent...
Florida Governor Signs Commercial, Professional Lines Deregulation Bill
Jun 2 2010 // Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has signed into law a bill exempting certain commercial and professional liability insurance rates from state review prior to use. Current state law exempts only those policies with annual...
Florida Gov. Crist Vetoes Property Insurance Bill
Jun 1 2010 // As he hinted he would do, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has vetoed an omnibus property insurance bill (SB2044) that the industry and even the state’s insurance commissioner had urged him to sign. Crist, who was elected...
Today Is Crist’s Day of Decision on Florida Property Insurance Bill
Jun 1 2010 // The omnibus property insurance bill, SB2044, becomes law at the end of today, unless Florida Governor Charlie Crist vetoes it. Crist could sign the bill or just let it become law without his signature. But if he intends to...
Florida Reinsurance Prices Decline 10-12% at Renewal: Guy Carpenter
Jun 1 2010 // Reinsurance pricing at the June 1, 2010 Florida renewal are down by 10 percent to 12 percent on average, on a year-over-year risk adjusted basis. That’s according to reinsurance intermediary Guy Carpenter & Co.,...
Florida Officials Worry About Complacency Over Hurricanes
May 28 2010 // It’s been more than 1,600 days since Florida was hit by a hurricane, and that one — Wilma — walloped Natalie Premock’s home. But since then, nothing. And time has faded memories. The 31-year-old...
Deal Reached in Florida Wrongful Death Suit Against Ballplayer Leyritz
May 27 2010 // A settlement has been approved in a wrongful death lawsuit involving former major leaguer Jim Leyritz, who was charged in a drunken driving manslaughter crash. An attorney for the family of the woman killed in the December...
Florida Case Could Hold Private Firms, Insurers Liable for Foster Kids’ Injuries
May 26 2010 // A few months after a 10-year-old child was placed with eight other children in a Tampa foster home overseen by a single mom, a 13-year-old boy sneaked into his room and raped him in 2005. But Hillsborough Kids Inc., a...
MGAs Called Critical to Florida’s Property Insurance Market
May 25 2010 // Several of Florida’s insurers with affiliated managing general agencies (MGAs) have come in for criticism recently but there is no widespread problem with the MGA model, regulators and insurance industry executives...
Astonish Results Opens Florida Office
May 24 2010 // Insurance agency marketing and web services provider Astonish Results is opening an office in Orlando, Fla. In addition to personnel, the Orlando office houses a training facility for the Rhode Island-based firm. The...
Florida Hurricane Fund Has $17 Billion in Cash for Claims
May 20 2010 // The Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund is as healthy as ever heading into the 2010 storm season. An advisory council to the fund reported Tuesday that it has enough cash and bonding ability to pay off more than $25 billion...
16 Florida Workers’ Compensation Insurers to Return $9.4 Million
May 19 2010 // Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty has ordered 16 workers compensation insurance companies to return more than $9.4 million in excessive profits to their policyholders. Under state law, workers compensation...
Florida Leaders See Omnibus Bill Stabilizing Home Insurance Market
May 18 2010 // Florida insurance leaders belive that recently passed legislation (SB2044) is a step towards stabilizing the state’s property insurance market that has had been rocked by politics, premiums assessments, company...
Coming Hurricane Season Could Complicate Gulf Oil Spill Disaster
May 18 2010 // BP’s oil spill could make for one of the highest-stakes U.S. Gulf hurricane seasons on record. Storms may scuttle clean-up efforts, force containment vessels to retreat, or propel spilled crude and tar balls over...
Ironshore Enters Florida High-Valued Homeowners Market
May 17 2010 // Specialty insurer Ironshore Inc. has entered the personal lines market to underwrite a high value homeowners program for properties valued in excess of $1 million. The program will be offered in partnership with Hull &...
