Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Lawyers to Share $70M in Surfside, Florida Condo Collapse Settlement
Sep 1 2022 // Lawyers who secured a $1.1 billion settlement in the deadly collapse last year of a beachfront Florida condominium building were awarded more than $70 million in fees Monday by a judge. The total was less than the...
Attorney for a Top Florida Insurance Law Firm Disbarred After Forgeries, Misconduct
Sep 1 2022 // A former attorney with one of Florida’s top insurance defense firms has been disbarred after the Bar said she engaged in repeated acts of neglect, deception and forgery. Erika Lynn Muller, until recently a partner...
Crossing the Rubicon (Again): New Arrests in Florida Insurance Schemes
Sep 1 2022 // Those familiar with insurance fraud schemes in Florida will remember Operation Rubicon. That was the year-long investigation by Miami-Dade and Florida authorities into an alleged property insurance fraud scheme that...
Florida Judge Dismisses Contractors’ Challenge to SB 2D’s Attorney Fee Limits
Aug 31 2022 // A Florida judge has thrown out a constitutional challenge to an insurance litigation reform law, noting that the state officials named in the lawsuit were not the correct defendants. Plaintiffs Restoration Association of...
Comp Insurers Object to Florida Hospital Payments Set at 2x U.S. Average
Aug 31 2022 // The Florida Division of Workers’ Compensation appears to be intent on pushing the ball across the goal line on a long-awaited revision to hospital reimbursement rules, despite concern from insurers that some rates...
Florida Staffing Firm Head Sentenced to 24 Years for Off-Book Labor Scheme
Aug 30 2022 // From 2007 to 2021, federal prosecutors said, Mykhaylo Chugay and associates operated a number of shady staffing companies in south Florida that avoided paying more than $25 million in federal taxes. Last week, a federal...
Biz Moves: PCF Acquires Apple Insurance in Florida
Aug 30 2022 // PCF Insurance Services (PCF), a brokerage headquartered in Lehi, Utah, has acquired Florida-based insurance broker Apple Insurance and Financial Services. Apple Insurance is an individual health and Medicare insurance...
Study Shows Pollution, Runoff Intensify Red Tide Blooms in Florida Waters
Aug 30 2022 // A new study by University of Florida researchers has provided one of the strongest correlations yet, showing that red tide outbreaks in coastal waters are exacerbated by man-made pollution. “There has been this kind...
Viewpoint: Can the Florida Insurance Market Withstand Another Hurricane Andrew?
Aug 29 2022 // The wide-ranging impact of Hurricane Andrew on the Florida insurance market is a familiar story within the risk management world. However, 30 years on from August 24, 1992, when Andrew made landfall in Dade County,...
DCA Can’t Prohibit Lower Court Ruling, Florida Justices Decide in Insurance Case
Aug 26 2022 // Claim Was Settled, But Insurer Attorneys Revealed Mediation Info, Claimants’ Lawyer Says An appeals court cannot be used to prohibit a lower court’s decisions, except through the normal appeal process, the...
NCCI Recommends 8.4% Cut in Florida Workers’ Comp Rates for 2023
Aug 25 2022 // The National Council on Compensation Insurance is recommending an average 8.4% cut in workers’ compensation rates for the Florida voluntary market – the seventh straight reduction and double the size of the...
Florida DWC Trying to Bring Two-Year Medical Reimbursement Debate to a Close
Aug 24 2022 // The Florida Division of Workers’ Compensation will hold hearings on Aug. 30 to discuss changes to some medical reimbursement levels and procedures, the latest step in a sometimes contentious process that has lasted...
30 Years Ago Andrew Upended Florida, But Current Legal Storm May Be Worse
Aug 24 2022 // It was 30 years ago today that Hurricane Andrew, the strongest storm to make U.S. landfall in more than two decades, gouged its way across south Florida, destroying more than 25,000 homes, by some estimates, and causing...
Report Questions Lydecker’s Appointment to Florida Citizens Insurance Board
Aug 22 2022 // Three months after Charlie Lydecker was appointed to the Florida Citizens Property Insurance Corp. Board of Governors, some are questioning that appointment after his involvement with another, highly criticized program...
Judge Blocks Florida ‘Anti-Woke’ Law Pushed by Gov. DeSantis
Aug 22 2022 // A Florida judge has declared a Florida law championed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis that restricts race-based conversation and analysis in business and education unconstitutional. Tallahassee U.S. District Judge Mark...
Florida Sting Operation Busted 13 Contractors Without Workers’ Comp
Aug 19 2022 // Unlicensed contractors, all without proper workers’ compensation insurance on their workers, have been charged in another law enforcement sting operation in Florida, authorities said. The state’s chief...
Florida Utility Says New Drone Can Speed Hurricane Recovery
Aug 19 2022 // Florida’s primary energy provider is ready to launch a powerful new technology, just ahead of the busiest weeks of the Atlantic hurricane season: a new fixed-wing drone designed fly into tropical storm force winds...
Florida’s Deadly High Speed Rail to Get $25 Million Safety Improvement
Aug 19 2022 // Tracks used by the nation’s deadliest railroad will see added fencing to keep pedestrians away and safety improvements at crossings under a $25 million federal grant announced Monday. Brightline and government...
Florida Hospital Facing Hundreds of Lawsuits over Surgeon’s Allegedly Botched Operations
Aug 18 2022 // A Jacksonville hospital now faces hundreds of lawsuits alleging that a surgeon who reportedly had palsy caused serious injuries and corrective surgeries from 2016 to 2020. The Florida Times-Union newspaper and NBC News...
ER Docs Are Independent Contractors, But Hospital Still Controls, Florida Court Finds
Aug 16 2022 // As in many business and commercial liability disputes, it’s all about the wording of the contract, a Florida appeals court decided in a medical malpractice case that could affect hospitals’ relationships with...
