Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
21st Century Holding Firmly Rejects Homeowners Choice Buyout
Oct 29 2009 // Lauderdale Lakes, Fla.-based 21st Century Holding Co. said its board of directors has unanimously rejected an unsolicited buyout proposal by Florida-only insurer Homeowners Choice, Inc., which sought to acquire all...
Carroll, Jarratt and Lee Added to PCI’s Board of Governors
Oct 29 2009 // Steven D. Carroll, Robert Jarratt and Michael H. Lee have been elected as the newest members of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America’s (PCI) Board of Governors. Carroll, serves as executive vice...
Florida 6.8% Workers’ Compensation Rate Cut Officially Approved
Oct 27 2009 // Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty has issued a final order approving the National Council on Compensation Insurance’s (NCCI) amended rate filing for workers’ compensation insurance rates that will...
Real Estate Agent Arrested for Workers’ Comp Fraud in New York
Oct 27 2009 // A Florida real estate agent has been arrested in New York for committing insurance fraud against the state’s largest workers’ comp insurer, the New York State Insurance Fund. Ben Keskin, 52, of Florida, was...
Florida’s Citizens Vows to Validate Its $700 Million in Mitigation Credits
Oct 26 2009 // State-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. plans to begin validating wind mitigation credits that have cut premiums by $700 million for 400,000 Florida policyholders. Citizens’ Board of Governors approved an...
Florida Judge: $97M Nicaraguan Judgment Against Dole Unenforceable
Oct 23 2009 // Florida judge has said a $97 million judgment against U.S. food giant Dole and Dow Chemical Co. cannot be enforced because the Nicaraguan court that issued it neither had jurisdiction nor met international legal...
Florida’s Citizens Reconsiders, Renews House With Chinese Drywall
Oct 23 2009 // Florida’s state-backed property insurer has taken a second look at a home with corrosion from defective Chinese drywall and decided to renew its homeowners’ insurance policy on the house after all. Citizens...
Ratings Roundup: MAPFRE Florida, Selective (stock/debt)
Oct 23 2009 // A.M. Best Co. has upgraded the financial strength rating (FSR) to ‘A’ (Excellent) from ‘A-‘ (Excellent) and the issuer credit rating (ICR) to “a” from “a-” of MAPFRE...
Florida Urged to Hike All Citizens Property Insurance Rates By 10%
Oct 22 2009 // Florida insurance regulators are failing in their duties if they don’t make the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. raise property insurance rates by 10 percent across the board, a business group lobbyist...
Florida Approves 14.6% Homeowners Insurance Rate Hike for Universal
Oct 22 2009 // Universal Property and Casualty Insurance Co. (UPCIC) reports it has received approval for a premium rate increase for its homeowners program in Florida. The premium rate increase, which will average approximately 14.6...
Florida Peninsula Offers to Pick Up Home Policies Dropped by Nationwide
Oct 21 2009 // Florida Peninsula Insurance Co., a domestic property/ casualty company writing homeowners and condominium policies statewide, says it is prepared to insure Florida homeowners policies that Nationwide Insurance Co. of...
Florida to Hear Citizens Property Insurance Rate Hikes of 5% to 10%
Oct 20 2009 // Florida regulatory officials will hold a public hearing Nov. 10 on proposed hikes of between 5 and 10 percent in the premiums charged by Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-backed property insurer. If approved,...
Nationwide to Drop 60,000 Policies in Florida
Oct 19 2009 // Nationwide Insurance Co. of Florida plans to reduce its personal lines property exposure in the state of Florida by nonrenewing 60,000 homeowners policies across the state. Nationwide said that Tower Hill Group, a Florida...
Florida Rates Its Medical Malpractice Market as Competitive
Oct 19 2009 // A new report shows a continuing trend of recovery for the medical malpractice industry in Florida that had been experiencing double-digit rate increases and lack of availability prior to legislative reforms enacted in...
Insurers Backing Away from Homes with Chinese Drywall
Oct 16 2009 // James and Maria Ivory’s dreams of a relaxing retirement on Florida’s Gulf Coast were put on hold when they discovered their new home had been built with Chinese drywall that emits sulfuric fumes and corrodes...
Florida’s Homeowners Choice Makes Bid for 21st Century Holding
Oct 15 2009 // Homeowners Choice, Inc., a Florida-only homeowners insurance company founded in 2006, has sent a letter to the board of directors of 21st Century Holding Co. proposing a merger between the two companies. In an Oct. 12...
Florida Approves 6.8% Workers’ Compensation Rate Cut
Oct 15 2009 // Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty has given the green light to an overall statewide average workers’ compensation rate decrease of 6.8 percent. The decrease, which was proposed by the industry’s...
Florida Halts Home Service Warranty Seller
Oct 14 2009 // Florida has ordered a home service warranty firm to stop selling contracts. State officials say the firm is not licensed to sell the products and has a reputation for denying claims. The Office of Insurance Regulation said...
Insurers Happy About Quiet Atlantic Hurricane Season
Oct 14 2009 // Thanks to El Nino, the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season has been the quietest in more than a decade, offering a reprieve for residents in the danger zone and a chance for insurance firms to refill depleted coffers. With the...
Florida’s American Keystone Insurance to Be Liquidated
Oct 13 2009 // Leon County Circuit Court Judge John C. Cooper has granted a request by state insurance officials to place American Keystone Insurance Co. in Ponte Vedra Beach into state receivership to be liquidated. American Keystone...
