Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Hotaling Insurance Services Merges with Florida’s Akumen Insurance
Oct 21 2022 // Hotaling Insurance Services, a brokerage and risk management team, has merged with Akumen Insurance Advisors of south Florida. The deal becomes effective Jan. 1. Terms were not disclosed. Akumen CEO Vince Castro will...
Florida CFO Calls for Ban on Assignments of Benefits, Limits on Public Adjusters
Oct 20 2022 // In the wake of Hurricane Ian, Florida’s chief financial officer has taken a hard line on insurance claims litigation, calling for an outright ban on assignments-of-benefits agreements. At a press conference in Cape...
Search for Answers Begins After Small Plane Hits House in South Florida
Oct 19 2022 // Federal authorities are investigating what may have caused a small plane to crash into a house in a south Florida neighborhood, killing the pilot and a passenger early this week. The single-engine Aventura II went down...
Legislative Action Aims to Ease Florida Homeowners Insurance Market Struggles
Oct 17 2022 // This post is part of a series sponsored by AgentSync. Florida’s struggles to retain a property and casualty (P&C) insurance market have made headlines and spurred a special legislative session this year. With a...
Lessons from Hurricane Michael Being Applied to Ian Recovery in SW Florida
Oct 17 2022 // Four years before Category 4 Ian wiped out parts of southwest Florida, the state’s Panhandle had its own encounter with an even stronger hurricane, Michael. The Category 5 storm all but destroyed one town, fractured...
Series of Tesla Fires in Florida Linked to Saltwater Damage From Hurricane Ian
Oct 17 2022 // A Florida senator is calling for action from the Transportation Department and automakers after a series of electric vehicle fires tied to Hurricane Ian. The storm caused flooding and destruction across the state, and fire...
Florida Building Codes Made a Big Difference for Newer Homes in Ian, Reports Show
Oct 17 2022 // In the hardest-hit parts of southwest Florida, many newer structures survived remarkably intact in Hurricane Ian’s winds, suggesting that updated Florida building codes are making a difference in reducing property...
Will Hurricane Ian Consume Florida’s Catastrophe Fund, Forcing More Back-Breaking Reinsurance Next Year?
Oct 17 2022 // While some analysts are predicting that the property insurance industry will be able to manage Hurricane Ian and its estimated $50 billion in insured losses, a few are now warning that the storm could significantly erode...
Judge Dismisses Florida Racketeering Lawsuit Against United P&C
Oct 14 2022 // A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against United Property & Casualty Insurance Co. and its adjusters, a closely watched legal action that charged the insurer had violated anti-racketeering laws to systematically...
Legislative Action Aims to Ease Florida Homeowners Insurance Market Struggles
Oct 12 2022 // This post is part of a series sponsored by AgentSync. Florida’s struggles to retain a property and casualty (P&C) insurance market have made headlines and spurred a special legislative session this year. With a...
Florida Shrimpers Lost Boats, Homes in Surge; Hope to Get Battered Fleet Back to Sea
Oct 12 2022 // The seafood industry in southwest Florida is racing against time and the elements to save what’s left of a major shrimping fleet — and a lifestyle — that was battered by Hurricane Ian. The storm’s...
Search for Victims Done, Florida Coast Begins Recovery from Storm
Oct 12 2022 // An army of 42,000 utility workers has restored electricity to more than 2.5 million businesses and homes in Florida since Hurricane Ian’s onslaught, and Brenda Palmer’s place is among them. By the...
Ian Claims in Florida Topping 449,000 So Far, But Many More Expected
Oct 11 2022 // The number of claims filed from Hurricane Ian continues to rise, topping 449,000 as of Monday, and estimated insured losses stand at more than $4.2 billion, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation reported. Some 322,268...
Alligators, Broken Infrastructure, Wreckage Greet Claims Adjusters in SW Florida
Oct 11 2022 // Damaged infrastructure created new obstacles for claims adjusters responding to Hurricane Ian, along with widespread flooding, damaged cell phone towers and even an occasional alligator. Sedgwick Executive Vice President...
Ending Florida Agency Led to More Development, Losses in Ian, Report Says
Oct 10 2022 // The shuttering of a state agency that was created to manage growth in Florida’s vulnerable coastal areas may have helped fuel the steady development that during Hurricane Ian resulted in some of the largest insured...
Florida Citrus Industry Squeezed by Hurricane Ian; Crop Insurance to Cover Some Losses
Oct 7 2022 // The waters have receded, but the stink lingers. As Emma Reynolds Ezell surveys the damage that a night of 100 mile-per-hour winds wrought on her orange groves, she just can’t get over the stench. It’s nothing...
Florida Comp Workshop on Physician Dispensing Rules Moved to November
Oct 6 2022 // The Florida Division of Workers’ Compensation has rescheduled two workshops on proposed rules governing physician dispensing of medications. The workshops were set for Sept. 29 but were postponed due to the arrival...
After Ian Swamped His Office and Home, Florida Insurance Agent Picking Up the Pieces
Oct 6 2022 // John Gardner this week found himself in a position no insurance agent would like to be in: no office to work in, no electrical service and no internet, but with hundreds of policyholders clamoring to file claims. And...
Most Habitable Homes in Florida Should Get Power Restored by End of Week, FPL Says
Oct 5 2022 // Nearly a week after Hurricane Ian smashed into Florida and carved a path of destruction that reached into the Carolinas, hundreds of thousands of Florida residents faced another day without electricity Tuesday as rescuers...
Will Ian Consume Florida Cat Fund, Forcing More Back-Breaking Reinsurance?
Oct 5 2022 // While some analysts are predicting that the property insurance industry will be able to manage Hurricane Ian and its estimated $50 billion in insured losses, a few are now warning that the storm could significantly erode...
