Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Florida Judge Rules Out Punitive Damages in Accounting Malpractice
Jun 17 2009 // A Miami judge ruled on Tuesday that BDO International B.V. should not have to pay $352 million in punitive damages awarded against its U.S. member, BDO Seidman, in an ongoing landmark audit malpractice trial. Closing...
Florida Governor Signs Citizens Insurance 10% Rate Hike Bill Into Law
Jun 15 2009 // Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has signed legislation that will increase property insurance rates by 10 percent annually on more than one million customers of the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. and gradually...
Florida Welcoming New Latin Independent Agents, While Still Coping with Old Market Problems
Jun 15 2009 // LAAIA Chief Says Property Markets Will Be a Problem in South Florida Until There’s a National Plan Being an independent agent in south Florida means never having enough property markets. That was true years ago and...
Declarations
Jun 15 2009 // Travelers on The Dow “The selection of Travelers, a property and casualty insurance company, is intended to restore the financials industry to full representation in The Dow. When we removed American International...
Florida Cuts Workers’ Comp Rates After Lawyer Fee Cap Reinstated
Jun 15 2009 // Florida’s insurance regulator has approved a rollback of workers’ compensation insurance rates from April 1 rates to the lower rates that were in effect on Jan. 1. The order by Florida Insurance Commissioner...
Crist Veto of Condo ‘Glitch’ Bill a Letdown for Unit Owners, Agents
Jun 15 2009 // Critics Say Florida Governor Let Fire Sprinkler Deadline Provision Overshadow Other Benefits Florida Gov. Charlie Crist’s veto of a condo insurance bill has disappointed condo unit owners and insurance agents who...
Gov. Crist Signs Florida Surplus Lines Regulation Bill
Jun 12 2009 // Legislation intended to clarify the regulation of the surplus lines insurance industry in Florida has beeen signed into law by Gov. Charlie Crist. The legislation (HB 853) removes an ambiguity caused by two Florida Supreme...
Florida Chamber Says Poll Numbers Support Insurance Deregulation
Jun 9 2009 // The Florida Chamber of Commerce released a poll it says shows that 60 percent of Florida voters believe Governor Charlie Crist should sign HB 1171, a bill which deregulates pricing for some large property insurers, while...
CFO of Florida’s United Insurance Resigns
Jun 9 2009 // The chief financial officer of United Insurance Holdings Corp. in St. Petersburg, Florida, has resigned, the company announced. The homeowner insurer said Nicholas Griffin resigned June 5 to pursue another opportunity but...
Universal Insurance Holdings To Purchase ICAT Specialty Insurance
Jun 8 2009 // Universal Insurance Holdings of North America and ICAT Holdings LLC of Boulder, Colo., have received regulatory approval that completes Universal North America’s purchase of ICAT Specialty Insurance Co. (ISIC). Under...
Florida Gov. Crist Says He’s Likely to Veto Insurance Deregulation Bill
Jun 5 2009 // Florida Gov. Charlie Crist says he’s leaning toward vetoing a bill that would deregulate some premiums for property insurance. Asked he would veto the bill, Crist said he’s “moving in that...
Florida’s Crist Caught Between Dueling Officials on Insurance Deregulation
Jun 5 2009 // If Florida Gov. Charlie Crist vetoes a bill designed to deregulate pricing for large national property insurers as appears likely, he will be siding with an appointed official over an influential lawmaker. Crist, who is...
Florida Widow Wins $30 Million Against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco
Jun 3 2009 // A Florida jury has awarded $30 million to a Pensacola widow in a ruling against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco. Lawyers for Benny Martin, who died of lung cancer in 1995, said the tobacco company conspired to make their products...
Florida Workers’ Compensation Rates Cut to Reflect Lawyer Fee Cap Law
Jun 3 2009 // Florida’s insurance regulator has approved a rollback of workers’ compensation insurance rates from April 1 rates to the lower rates that were in effect on Jan. 1. The order by Florida Insurance Commissioner...
Florida Surplus Lines Insurance Regulation Bill Awaits Gov.’s Signature
Jun 2 2009 // Legislation intended to clarify the regulation of the surplus lines insurance industry in Florida has reached the desk of Gov. Charlie Crist. Crist has until June 16 to sign the bill (HB 853), which the industry hopes and...
P/C Insurers Apply Lessons from Hurricane Katrina
Jun 2 2009 // The property/casualty insurance industry is employing advancements in catastrophe modeling and considering the impact of the creation of a national catastrophe fund as it applies lessons learned from Hurricane...
Florida Reinsurance Rate Hike of 15% Tracks with Global Rates
Jun 1 2009 // Florida property/catastrophe reinsurance rates increased by 15 percent at the June 1, 2009, renewal, compared to a decline of 15 percent a year ago, according to reinsurance specialist Guy Carpenter & Co. In a new...
Declarations
Jun 1 2009 // 10 Years “Unless there’s some Einstein out there that knows something none of us do, the prevailing thought among the researchers is that a good 24-hour forecast of intensity change is a goal, a stretch goal,...
40% of Florida Home Carriers Losing Money Even With No Big Storms
Jun 1 2009 // With the start of the hurricane season just a few weeks away, a leading Florida consumer advocate joined independent agents at a press conference to warn that property insurance rates need to be raised if insurers are...
A.M. Best Concerned Over Insurers’ Exposure to the Florida Hurricane Fund
Jun 1 2009 // Based on the recently revised projected claims-paying capacity of the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (FHCF), rating agency A.M. Best has updated its treatment of reinsurance provided to rated entities from this...
