Latest Florida Headlines

All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Florida Gov. Crist Names Hill As Compensation Judge

Mar 27 2009 // Florida Governor Charlie Crist has named Marjorie Renee Hill of Tallahassee as Judge of Compensation Claims. Hill, 47, has served as the director of the First District Court of Appeal’s Workers’ Compensation...

Florida’s New VanDyke Norman Insurance Agency Thinks Big

Mar 25 2009 // Kevin VanDyke and Andy Norman opened their St. Augustine agency around Thanksgiving last year but already they are thinking big. They plan to grow their business in the Jacksonville metropolitan area not just by outselling...

Sen. Nelson Seeks U.S.Help on Florida Hurricane Losses

Mar 25 2009 // U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson has asked the U.S. Treasury to provide assurances to private market lenders that any loans they make in Florida would be repaid at fair market interest in the event of a catastrophe. Nelson, however,...

Spring Weather Warnings: Midwest Floods; Droughts in South, West

Mar 24 2009 // Flooding in the upper Midwest, which could rival the high water levels experienced in 2006 and possibly 1997, and continued drought in the South and West are among the warnings contained in the national outlook for this...

Obama’s Grabs Florida’s Fugate to Head FEMA

Mar 23 2009 // Florida emergency manager Craig Fugate would bring a lot with him if he takes over the Federal Emergency Management Agency: plenty of hurricane experience, a blunt style, and a belief that preparation begins on the local...

Business Moves

Mar 23 2009 // Auto Club Insurance, MEEMIC Auto Club Insurance Association, a Dearborn, Michigan-based insurer, reported it has agreed to acquire MEEMIC Insurance Co. and its insurance agency affiliate, MEEMIC Insurance Services...

People

Mar 23 2009 // Richard G. “Dick” Clarke, senior vice president of J. Smith Lanier & Co. in West Point, Ga., has been elected 2009 president of RiskProNet International, a network of 25 independent insurance brokers in...

Sink-ing Feeling: Florida Still Searching for Fix for Hurricane Exposure

Mar 23 2009 // Florida lawmakers need to make some smart decisions on reducing the risk to Florida property owners from hurricanes, the state’s chief financial officer said. In a letter to legislative leaders, CFO Alex Sink said...

State Farm Balks at Florida Withdrawal Conditions

Mar 23 2009 // State Farm Florida has appealed stipulations that Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty has put on its plan to withdraw from the state’s property insurance market. Florida’s second largest insurer of homes and...

Florida Home Insurer People’s Trust Ordered to Stop Writing New Policies

Mar 20 2009 // One of Florida’s new startup property insurance companies has been told to stop selling policies — at least for a while. Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty said Boca Raton-based People’s Trust has not...

Florida Woman Injured in Sherriff Crash Awarded $9.4 Million

Mar 17 2009 // A judge has ruled that the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office should pay $9.14 million to a woman who sustained permanent brain damage from a crash with a deputy. A judge ruled that Deputy Kenneth Petrillo was negligent...

Florida Program Manager Allied American Enters Personal Lines

Mar 17 2009 // National program insurance manager Allied American Underwriters-AAU, headquartered in Tampa, Fla. has introduced a new national personal lines division. The new programs specialize in writing personal clients on both an...

Florida Receives $900K Stimulus Funds for Wildfire Prevention

Mar 17 2009 // Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson announced that his department has been awarded $900,000 under the federal stimulus plan to conduct wildfire prevention efforts. The funding, which...

As Hurricane Season Nears, Florida Still Facing Large Exposure

Mar 16 2009 // Florida lawmakers need to make some smart decisions on reducing the risk for Florida property owners from hurricane damage, the state’s chief financial officer said Thursday. In a letter to key legislative leaders,...

Obama’s FEMA Director Brings Hurricane Experience from Florida

Mar 16 2009 // Florida emergency manager Craig Fugate would bring a lot with him if he takes over the Federal Emergency Management Agency: plenty of hurricane experience, a blunt style, and a belief that preparation begins on the local...

Florida CFO Sink: 4 Steps to Reduce State’s Hurricane Exposure

Mar 12 2009 // Citing the high level of catastrophic risk exposure Florida faces, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink today suggested guidelines for the Legislature to follow in working to reduce the state’s hurricane risk. CFO Sink...

Florida Officials Searching For Ways to Back Up Hurricane Fund

Mar 12 2009 // The state board that oversees the fund designed to pay homeowner claims in the event of a catastrophic hurricane searched this week for ways to reduce its risk with hurricane season only months away. The Board of...

Florida Gov. Crist OK With Rate Increases by Citizens

Mar 11 2009 // Florida Gov. Charlie Crist says he’s OK with Citizens Insurance raising its property insurance rates. But not by too much. Crist said he didn’t favor rates be increased dramatically, but that he wanted to be...

Florida Surplus Lines Insurance Industry Seeks Regulatory Certainty

Mar 11 2009 // Surplus lines insurance industry leaders in Florida hope legislation working its way through the state Legislature will clarify how the industry will be regulated. The industry has had concerns about its future since court...

State Farm Appeals Conditions Placed on Florida Withdrawal

Mar 9 2009 // State Farm Florida on Friday appealed stipulations that Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty has put on its plan to withdraw from the state’s property insurance market. Florida’s second largest insurer of homes...