Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Fla. OKs 2 Percent Insurance Surcharge Due to 2004-05 Storms
Nov 1 2007 // Floridians with homeowner, commercial and liability insurance polices will pay a third 2 percent surcharge to help cover claims against four insurers that went belly up after a series of hurricanes in 2004 and...
Noel Leaves over 60 Dead; Bahamas, Florida Coast Warnings
Nov 1 2007 // It may not have reached hurricane strength, but tropical storm Noel has piled up a lengthening list of death and destruction, as it heads towards the Bahamas. The slow moving storm caused the deaths of at least 40 people...
Fla. Approves Workers’ Comp Rate Decrease
Oct 31 2007 // Florida insurance regulators approved the National Council on Compensation Insurance’s amended rate filing for workers’ compensation insurance rates. On Oct. 22, Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty ordered...
Fla. Stiffens Standards for Home Mitigation Program Inspectors
Oct 30 2007 // Nearly six months after expanding statewide, the My Safe Florida Home (MSFH) program is increasing standards for participating wind inspection firms, in a continued effort to improve the quality of inspections provided for...
Private Insurers Find Way to Grow in Florida Homeowners Market
Oct 29 2007 // The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation signed Consent Orders allowing four companies to assume a total of 173,000 policies from the Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state’s insurer of last resort. American...
Editor’s Note: No coasting
Oct 27 2007 // While Congress continues to debate whether to launch any sort of national disaster backup plan or add wind coverage to the federal flood program, states are coming up with some of their own ideas — big and small...
People
Oct 27 2007 // Fulwider was inaugurated as the new chair of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (the Big “I”), with C. Brett Nilsson, and J. David Daniel assuming the offices of chair-elect and vice...
Declarations
Oct 27 2007 // No-fault returns “Today is a great day for the people of Florida because the Florida Legislature stepped in to provide protections for Florida’s drivers. In doing so, they made a good law an even better law by...
Fla. brings back no-fault auto insurance
Oct 27 2007 // Gov. Charlie Crist signed legislation that will reinstate Florida’s Motor Vehicle No-Fault Law and ensure that drivers have $10,000 worth of health care benefits through personal injury protection or PIP coverage by...
News Currents
Oct 27 2007 // Fla. medical malpractice market continues to improve A recent state-sponsored report showed a continuing trend of recovery for the Florida medical malpractice industry – an industry that experienced double-digit rate...
ACE Insurance Pays $4.5 Million to Settle Multi-state Bid-rigging Claims
Oct 26 2007 // ACE Group Holdings has agreed to pay $4.5 million to end a bid-rigging and price-fixing case, according to state officials. The monies will be divided among eight states and the District of Columbia. Florida’s Chief...
Fla. Workers’ Comp Rate Decrease not Enough for Commissioner
Oct 24 2007 // Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty disapproved the National Council on Compensation Insurance’s latest rate filing for workers’ compensation insurance rates, due to become effective next year. McCarty...
North Point Holdings Acquires Home Pointe Insurance for $15.3 Million
Oct 23 2007 // Mich.-based North Pointe Holdings Corp. announced Monday that it has signed an agreement for the sale of its Home Pointe Insurance Co. subsidiary, which comprises North Pointe’s Florida homeowners and dwelling fire...
Florida Property Owners Asked to Vacate Homes Built on Bomb Range
Oct 18 2007 // Some in an Orlando-area neighborhood are being asked to leave their homes as crews search for explosives. The homes and a middle school were built on a former Army bombing range. No one knew until July, when the Army Corps...
Bottom Line: Allstate’s Aggressive Personal Lines Strategy Paying Off
Oct 17 2007 // When a series of killer hurricanes walloped the Gulf Coast in 2005, costing Allstate Corp. a record quarterly loss of $1.55 billion, the company tried to make sure its bottom line would never be hit so hard again. The...
6 Florida Contractors Cited for Workers’ Comp Violations
Oct 16 2007 // Investigators from the Florida Department of Financial Services, Bureau of Workers’ Compensation Compliance report that they issued six stop work orders during a surprise enforcement sweep last week. Enforcement...
Florida Subpoenas Allstate Over Home Insurance Rate Increases, Industry Ties
Oct 16 2007 // Florida officials have subpoenaed Allstate Insurance and its subsidiaries to get the insurer to explain why it is not lowering homeowners insurance rates in the state and to defend its dealings with the industry’s...
Fla. Judge Rules in Favor of Insurance Regulators on Subpoena Challenge
Oct 15 2007 // A Leon County Circuit Court Judge has dismissed petitions filed by the Cincinnati Insurance Co. and the Cincinnati Indemnity Co., according to The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. In the petitions, the companies...
Florida’s Brightway Insurance Names New Territory Owner
Oct 15 2007 // Brightway Insurance’s plan to have 150 offices in Florida by 2010 continued today as the company named Blake Hayward territory owner. Hayward, currently an associate agency owner of the Tallahassee office, will...
Mich. House Passes ‘Opt Out’ Option for State’s Helmet Law
Oct 12 2007 // The Michigan State House passed legislation on Thursday, Oct. 11th that would enable motorcyclists to ride without their helmets on Michigan roads. The newest proposal includes an “opt-out” solution. Michigan...
