Southeast News

Busy Hurricane Season Could Test NC’s ‘Weakened’ Building Codes, Experts Say

The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, predicted to be unusually intense, officially began this week and it could soon bring the first test of a North Carolina law that some insurance experts have said weakens building codes in the state and …

Tennessee, Kentucky Tobacco Farmer Sentenced for Second Crop Insurance Fraud

A Kentucky tobacco farmer has been sentenced to more than three years in prison after pleading guilty to crop insurance fraud, eight years after he was convicted of similar crimes. David Manion, 61, who resides in Lafayette, Tennessee, and owns …

Flight Attendants Accuse Jacksonville Jags Kicker of Sexual Assault on Plane

Two unnamed flight attendants have filed suit against the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL team and former placekicker Brandon McManus, accusing him of sexual assault during an 8-hour flight to London last fall. The women, referred to only as Jane Doe I …

A 6th House Has Collapsed into Atlantic on North Carolina’s Outer Banks

RODANTHE, N.C. (AP) — Another house has collapsed into the Atlantic Ocean along North Carolina’s coast, the sixth to fall along the Cape Hatteras National Seashore’s beaches in the past four years, according to U.S. National Park Service officials. About …

‘Cautiously Optimistic’ on Florida: Defense Costs Down, but Reinsurance Still a Drag

Analysts with the AM Best financial rating firm and other stakeholders are cautiously optimistic about the resurrection of the Florida property insurance market, 18 months after state lawmakers approved monumental litigation reforms. That was the sentiment gleaned from a Thursday …

NC Commissioner Rejects Proposed 83% Mobile Home-Fire Rate Increase

North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey has scheduled a 2025 hearing date after rejecting the NC Rate Bureau’s request for an 83% average rate increase in mobile home fire policies and a 50% increase in mobile home casualty rates over …

ARCW Acquires CLC Insurance Agency in Clearwater

Clearwater-based CLC Insurance Agency has merged with ARCW Insurance, a Leavitt Group affiliate, the companies said in a news release this week. CLC, founded four years ago by Crystal Callahan Lawson, now Callahan-Estes, will relocate to ARCW’s Pinellas Park offices. …

Kentucky Families Struggling After Being Hit Second Time by Tornadoes

BARNSLEY, Ky. (AP) — Devin Johnson’s life was uprooted for a second time when a tornado flattened his home over the Memorial Day weekend — on the same lot in Kentucky where another storm left him homeless in 2021. Johnson, …

Is Trampoline Job Landscape Work? AI Says Yes. 11th Circuit Says It’s Not Covered

Is the installation of an in-ground trampoline considered landscaping work, covered by a landscaper’s liability insurance policy? Artificial intelligence programs suggest that it is. But human judges with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals believe otherwise, despite one of …

North Carolina Will Soon Have Some of the Highest Auto Liability Minimums

Starting next year, the minimum automobile liability coverage in North Carolina will jump significantly, thanks to a 2023 law that raised the minimum requirement for the first time in 25 years. Since 1999, North Carolina drivers have been required to …

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