Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
SUNZ Insurance Solutions in Florida Names Leonard as President
May 22 2020 // Rick Leonard, former director of Sales and executive vice president with SUNZ Insurance Solutions, has been appointed president of the company. Rick Leonard Leonard has been with SUNZ, a national provider of workers’...
Many Florida Business Owners Take Slow Approach to Reopening
May 21 2020 // Despite reopenings throughout Florida, some cities and businesses are hesitant about welcoming the public, saying they want to take things slow due to lingering safety concerns. It’s a delicate balance, especially...
Florida Keys to Reopen to Visitors June 1
May 21 2020 // The Florida Keys will reopen to tourists on June 1, more than two months after the island chain closed to visitors to minimize the spread of the coronavirus. Checkpoints that barred visitors from coming into the Florida...
For Third Point Re, COVID-19 Crisis Hurts, but It Celebrates 1st Underwriting Profit
May 20 2020 // Third Point Re reported a net loss of $183.6 million for the first quarter of 2020 due to COVID-19-related investment volatility – but the company still had big reasons to celebrate. For the first time since its...
Nearly 9K Acre Brush Fire in Southwest Florida Destroys At Least 7 Homes
May 19 2020 // At least seven homes were lost in a brush fire in southwest Florida, and many of the victims say they escaped with nothing more than the clothes on their backs. The 8,663-acre wildfire fire in Collier County continued to...
Tropical Storm Arthur Inches Closer to East Coast; Minor Impact Expected to North Carolina
May 18 2020 // Tropical Storm Arthur inched closer to the U.S. East Coast on Sunday, although its impact was expected to be limited to some minor flooding and rough seas along the North Carolina coast. Arthur formed off the coast of...
Business Moves
May 18 2020 // National Paragon, Trident Public Risk Solutions, Argo Paragon Insurance Holdings, a national managing general agency, said it has closed on the previously-announced purchase of Trident Public Risk Solutions from Argo...
Florida Man Charged with Starting 343-Acre Wildfire in Panhandle
May 15 2020 // A Florida Panhandle man who set up an illegal burn barrel on his property caused a wildfire that torched approximately 343 acres (139 hectares) of wild lands and damaged or destroyed about 59 homes, state officials...
Walt Disney, Unions Agree on Coronavirus Worker Safeguards for Reopening Parks
May 15 2020 // Walt Disney Co. and unions representing workers at Florida’s Walt Disney World have reached an agreement on safeguards to protect employees from coronavirus, a union statement said on Thursday, removing one of the...
Business Interruption Claimants Like How Some Localities Worded Emergency Orders
May 15 2020 // Cities and counties across the country may have handed plaintiff’s attorneys an argument to use in lawsuits against insurers that seek business-interruption coverage for losses caused by coronavirus closure...
Florida’s Capitol Preferred to Shed Nearly 24K Policies; Regulator to Monitor Operations
May 15 2020 // Capitol Preferred Insurance Co., one of the top writers of homeowners insurance in Florida, has received approval from the state’s insurance regulator to shed 23,800 policies just weeks before the start of hurricane...
Florida Extends Order Allowing Agency Reps to Work Remotely During Health Emergency
May 13 2020 // Customer service representatives holding a particular Florida insurance license will be able to continue conducting business remotely until at least July 7. A directive issued by Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis that allows...
Florida Market Study Will Evaluate Exposures, Strategies for Citizens Property Insurance
May 12 2020 // Citizens Property Insurance Corp., Florida’s insurer of last resort, has moved forward with an independent study that will evaluate the insurer’s potential exposures from the state’s troubled property...
Firefighters Battle Raging Florida Wildfire as Many Florida Residents Return Home
May 11 2020 // For two sleepless nights, Kelly Kniss had wondered what had become of her home in the Florida Panhandle and the two dozen hens she and her husband Ryan had left behind after authorities ordered them to grab what they could...
COVID-19 Hits Already-Troubled Nursing Home Insurance Market; Brokers Try to Help
May 10 2020 // Nursing homes are right in the middle of the deadly coronavirus pandemic hitting the U.S, with more than 28%, or nearly 20,000, of the nation’s COVID-19 deaths happening in these long term care facilities, according...
Wildfires Rage in Florida Panhandle; More Than 1K People Evacuated
May 8 2020 // Firefighters in the Florida Panhandle have been battling wildfires that forced some 1,600 people to evacuate from their homes, and a stretch of Interstate 10 remained closed in both directions Thursday morning due to...
Florida Makes Plans for Dealing with Pandemic During Hurricane Season
May 7 2020 // As Florida slowly reopens, officials are now contemplating what they should do if the coronavirus outbreak lingers into hurricane season, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday. Hurricane season begins June 1 and...
Florida Begins ‘Phase 1’ Reopening, Except for South Florida
May 6 2020 // Florida partially reopened Monday, allowing restaurants and shops in most of the state to open at 25% capacity in hopes of kick-starting the ailing economy after weeks of coronavirus-related shutdowns. Business owners and...
Florida-Based BKS-Partners Appoints Nash as Regional President
May 5 2020 // BKS-Partners, an insurance brokerage and risk management firm headquartered in Tampa, Fla., has appointed Kelly Nash to Regional president. As BKS-Partners Regional president, Nash will take responsibility over the...
EEOC Complaint: Florida ICU Nurse Denied Rental Because of Virus Concerns
May 5 2020 // A Florida nurse filed an equal opportunity complaint alleging her condo rental application was denied because her ICU job brings her in contact with novel coronavirus patients. Jennifer Piraino said she submitted an...
