Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Floridians begin to question insurers’ ‘pup companies’
Aug 21 2006 // A lot of Floridians have had their homeowners insurance company — call it XYZ Florida Insurance — increase their premium because of huge losses. Weeks later, the residents see XYZ Insurance USA, based in...
EPI Study Finds Coastal Population Drain Following Hurricanes
Aug 18 2006 // A study conducted by the Earth Policy Institute (http://www.earth-policy.org) concludes that a number of people who evacuated their homes in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma may have left permanently. The EPI...
Fla. Commissioner Orders Citizens to Reduce Rates in Monroe County
Aug 18 2006 // Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty rejected a request by Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (Citizens) to increase rates in Monroe County and ordered it to reduce homeowners insurance rates for the area. By...
New State-Run Commercial Insurance Unit OK’d by Fla. Governor, Cabinet
Aug 18 2006 // Following a presentation by Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty, Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida Cabinet approved an emergency rule establishing a property and casualty joint underwriting association to make...
Insurance Crisis Defines Republican Race for Fla. CFO
Aug 17 2006 // If money talks, as it so often does in Florida politics, Senate President Tom Lee should be favored to win the Republican nomination in a three-way contest for chief financial officer that’s focusing on who can solve...
Floridians Flock to Get Home Hurricane-Preparedness Inspections
Aug 17 2006 // Florida homeowners on Aug. 15 flocked to a new state program that offers free hurricane-preparedness inspections and grants to help cover the cost of improvements. More than 3,500 people applied online within hours after...
Penn Treaty American Temporarily Suspends Sales in Florida
Aug 16 2006 // A subsidiary of insurance firm Penn Treaty American Corp. has temporarily suspended new sales of Florida policies pending the filing and review of its 2005 statutory audit report, the company announced this week. Penn...
Florida’s $250 Million Property Loss Mitigation Program Begins
Aug 15 2006 // Florida has begun My Safe Florida Home program, a $250 million mitigation program to help Floridians strengthen their homes against hurricanes and to reduce property losses. Tom Gallagher, Florida’s chief financial...
USAA Seeks 40% Homeowners Rate Hike in Fla.
Aug 14 2006 // USAA Casualty, which primarily insures military personnel and their families, has asked the state to increase its homeowner and condominium premiums by an average of 40 percent. The company made the request last Friday to...
Fla. Charges Agency with ‘Sliding’ Ancillary Costs onto Auto Policies
Aug 14 2006 // Tom Gallagher, Florida’s chief financial officer, said he has filed administrative charges against 12 agents and customer representatives of Direct General Insurance Agency for “sliding” ancillary...
Jacksonville, Fla. Tree Service Business Owner Charged with Workers’ Comp Fraud
Aug 11 2006 // A Jacksonville, Fla. tree service business owner has been arrested after the electrocution of one of his employees and charged with workers’ compensation fraud, first degree, for failure to provide workers’...
Aug. 11 Public Hearing Scheduled in Bradenton, Fla. to Gauge Commercial Insurance Woes
Aug 9 2006 // A public hearing to gauge the scope and nature of the burgeoning commercial insurance crisis in Florida has been scheduled held Friday Aug. 11 from 4 p.m. until 6 p.m. in Bradenton, Fla. by Florida Insurance Commissioner...
Not Buying Reinsurance for La. Cost Allstate $2 Billion
Aug 8 2006 // Allstate Insurance Co. bought reinsurance to cover some of the cost of policies all along the East Coast last year, but not for Louisiana – a gamble that cost it $2 billion in claims. The company’s models did...
Three Arrested for Staging Florida PIP Fraud Accidents
Aug 8 2006 // Three individuals, including a father and daughter have been arrested and face felony charges stemming from staged accidents and $40,000 in fraudulent auto insurance billings according to Tom Gallagher, Florida’s...
Companies step up to take Texas Select policyholders
Aug 7 2006 // Some 150,000 Texas homeowners will be affected by the liquidation of Vesta Fire Insurance Co. and its Texas subsidiaries by the Texas Department of Insurance, but the situation seems to be not as dire as previously...
Excess flood insurance — when the federal plan isn’t sufficient
Aug 7 2006 // The lessons learned from Katrina and Rita and predictions of a future with bigger and stronger storms highlight more than ever the importance of flood insurance, even in locations where it was previously thought...
Florida offers grants to encourage hurricane damage mitigation
Aug 7 2006 // Florida’s Department of Financial Services is working out the details of a program offering grants of up to $5,000 to homeowners who take steps to mitigate hurricane damages. Individual matching grants of up to...
Over-prescribing doctor tops Florida list of 10 ‘costliest, boldest’ scammers
Aug 7 2006 // The Florida Department of Financial Services has released its “Top-10 Fraud List,” summarizing the 10 costliest or boldest scams investigated resulting in convictions from July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006:...
Florida moving ahead with commercial lines reinsurance pool
Aug 7 2006 // Florida is moving to reactivate a state-run reinsurance pool for commercial lines insurance to help businesses obtain insurance. The Commercial Joint Underwriting Association (JUA) is intended to provide property insurance...
Citizens agrees to renew, write new builder’s risk coverage in Florida
Aug 7 2006 // Citizens Property Insurance Corp. has reversed a June decision to cancel its builder’s risk program and agreed to renew existing builder’s risk policies and write new policies in Florida until the end of the...
