Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
HCI Execs to Launch Condo Insurance Exchange in Florida After OIR Approval
Nov 27 2023 // Executives at Tampa-based HCI Group, the holding company for Homeowners Choice and TypTap Insurance companies, are having a busy fourth quarter. Just a day after HCI announced that Homeowners Choice had successfully...
HCI’s Homeowners Choice Takes On 53.7K Florida Citizens Policies; TypTap Goes Next
Nov 22 2023 // Homeowners Choice Property & Casualty Insurance Co. recently assumed approximately 53,750 policies from Citizens Property Insurance Corp., Florida’s state-backed insurance company. The policies assumed amount to...
Florida Man Sentenced for Role In Workers’ Compensation Fraud Conspiracy
Nov 21 2023 // A federal judge has sentenced Ramon Paz of Lakeland, Florida to 33 months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud to avoid paying for workers’ compensation insurance. According to the U.S....
AM Best Places Florida Farm Bureau Ratings Under Review After Idalia Losses Pile On
Nov 20 2023 // AM Best has placed under review with negative implications the Financial Strength Rating of B++ (Good) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings of “bbb+” (Good) of Florida Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Co. and...
Choice Financial Acquires Hackmeier Agency in South Florida
Nov 20 2023 // Virginia-based Choice Financial Group has acquired Jeff D. Hackmeier and Associates, a south Florida insurance agency catering to high net-worth clients. Hackmeier, based in Bay Harbor Islands, near Miami, has been in...
Skanska Ordered to Pay $1.7M to Florida Oyster Farm for Barges Loosed in Storm
Nov 20 2023 // Skanska USA, part of one of the world’s largest construction firms, was ordered to pay almost $1.7 million to a Florida oyster farmer, three years after the firm’s barges broke loose in Hurricane Sally. The...
Best Agency to Work For – Southeast Gold Winner: Wiglesworth-Rindom Insurance Agency
Nov 20 2023 // Education Is Key to Success Florida insurance agents have been through the wringer in the last five years, with repeated rate increases for properties across the board, carriers pulling out of the market, and continual...
Heavy Rains, High Winds Bring Flooding, Damage to South Florida
Nov 17 2023 // FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Why has it been raining so much in south Florida? Experts say the latest windy, rainy storm system seen this week has nothing to do with hurricane season. The storm system that formed...
Mom Not Liable in Son’s Crash of Family Car, Florida Supreme Court Says
Nov 17 2023 // Florida families and their auto insurers can rest a little easier after the state Supreme Court decided Thursday that a mom cannot be held vicariously liable for an accident caused by her son who had borrowed the family...
Is Miami-Dade, Once the Leader in Strong Building Requirements, Now Out of Step?
Nov 16 2023 // Editor’s note: For almost three decades, Florida contractors and building officials have operated under two different building codes: One for most of the state and another for the southeastern corner – Miami-Dade...
Disney Study Says it Has $40B Impact on Florida as it Battles DeSantis in Court
Nov 15 2023 // ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Disney on Tuesday released a study showing its economic impact in Florida at $40.3 billion as it battles Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his appointees over their takeover of the district that...
Florida Officials Pause Plan to Disband Pro-Palestinian Student Groups, Citing Liability
Nov 15 2023 // ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A plan to prohibit a pro-Palestinian student group from state university campuses in Florida has been temporarily shelved while officials reassess the proposal. State University System Chancellor...
Florida OIR Approves Record Workers’ Comp Rate Cut, Despite Roofers’ Concerns
Nov 15 2023 // The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation and the state insurance commissioner have approved a 15.1% average decrease in workers’ compensation rates, despite calls from roofing contractors to freeze rates for a...
American Coastal, Once Affiliated with UPC, Has Buyer for Interboro in New York
Nov 14 2023 // American Coastal Insurance Corp., formerly affiliated with Florida-based United Property & Casualty Insurance, announced it has a cash buyer for Interboro Insurance Co. in New York. According to the company, the...
At SpaceX, Worker Injuries Soar in Elon Musk’s Rush to Mars
Nov 13 2023 // One windy night at Elon Musk’s SpaceX facility in McGregor, Texas, Lonnie LeBlanc and his co-workers realized they had a problem. They needed to transport foam insulation to the rocket company’s main hangar but...
Florida Firm Fined $16 Million Over Defect in Clothing Steamer Products
Nov 13 2023 // The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reports that HSN Inc., of St. Petersburg, Florida, has agreed to pay a $16 million civil penalty. to settle charges that it failed to report complaints and injuries related to...
Markets/Coverages: Florida Citizens Taps Verisk Aerial Imagery for Underwriting
Nov 10 2023 // Verisk, a global data analytics and technology provider, announced that Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the residual, not-for-profit insurer in Florida, will adopt Verisk’s aerial imagery analytics solution. The...
Florida’s HCI Group Rebounds: Q3 Profit, Fewer Policies, Lower Litigation Costs
Nov 9 2023 // Tampa-based HCI Group, the holding company for Homeowners Choice and TypTap property insurance companies, reported a $15.7 million net income in the third quarter, a strong improvement over Q3 last year, when the group saw...
Fed Judges Ask Florida Supreme Court to Decide if Insurers Can Sue Auto-Glass Shops
Nov 9 2023 // The Florida Legislature earlier this year struck a mighty blow for auto insurers in their years-long fight against windshield repair shops, ending assignment-of-benefits and the practice of offering gifts to insureds. Now,...
Florida Lawmakers Fund Home Hardening Program, Idalia Recovery in Special Session
Nov 8 2023 // The Florida House of Representatives and Senate moved quickly this week to approve more funding for the state’s popular home-hardening program, along with grants, loans and tax breaks for areas hit by Hurricane...
