Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Four Years After Hurricane Michael, Florida City Rebuilding, Recovering
Jul 25 2022 // MEXICO BEACH, Fla. — Standing on the deck of the new Driftwood Inn, 31/2 years after Hurricane Michael obliterated the old one, Tom Wood spoke of the months after the storm. One of his daughters had urged him and his...
Florida Regulators, FAIA Slam Demotech for Reported Plans to Downgrade 17 Carriers
Jul 21 2022 // Florida’s top insurance regulators and the Florida Association of Insurance Agents on Thursday blasted the Demotech financial rating firm after the organization reportedly notified 17 insurers that they will soon be...
Florida OIR: $3B Spent on Claims Defense in 2021; 27 Insurers Now on Watch List
Jul 21 2022 // In 2021, Florida’s domestic property insurers spent more than $3 billion on legal defense costs and containment – double the figure reported in 2016. That’s one jaw-dropping but not surprising takeaway from...
Starbucks Ordered to Pay $9 Million After Florida Woman Hit in Drive-Thru Lane
Jul 19 2022 // Starbucks Corp. has appealed a nearly $9 million verdict rendered against it after a customer was struck by a vehicle in the drive-through lane at a Fernandina Beach, Florida, coffee shop. The driver and the property owner...
Goodbye Courtroom? Florida Citizens Wants Claims Disputes Heard by Admin Judges
Jul 14 2022 // By this time next year, Citizens Property Insurance policyholders and assignees of benefits could see their claims disputes decided, not in county or circuit courts, but by administrative judges who work for a Florida...
Rural Florida County Reeling From Nine Fentanyl Deaths in One Weekend
Jul 11 2022 // A small, largely rural county west of Florida’s capital experienced an unheard-of spike in deadly drug overdoses believed to be caused by fentanyl over the July 4 weekend, with nine people dying in the latest sign...
An Invasive Creature is (Again) Threatening Florida Crops, Buildings, Trees
Jul 11 2022 // Invasive giant African land snails that can eat building plaster and stucco, consume hundreds of varieties of plants and carry diseases that affect humans have been found once again in Florida, where officials said that...
Florida Insurance Agents Feeling the Heat from Roiling Marketplace
Jul 11 2022 // Dan Alexander has seen the worst of the Florida property insurance market from the inside-out – from agents who’ve quit to carriers that have gone insolvent or stopped writing new business, to having to manage...
Florida’s Capacity Insurance Gets Downgraded, Stops Writing New Business
Jul 8 2022 // AM Best has withdrawn its financial strength rating for Capacity Insurance, a commercial insurer with a small footprint in Florida, and the company has decided to withdraw from the Florida market. “Due to a variety...
Florida Workers’ Comp Admin, Second-Injury Fund Fees to Remain Steady for 2023
Jul 5 2022 // The surcharge for Florida’s Workers’ Compensation Administration Trust Fund and for the second-injury fund will remain the same for 2023 – at near-historically low rates. The Division of Workers’...
Florida Property Reinsurance Premiums Rise by as Much as 50%: Gallagher Re
Jul 1 2022 // Property reinsurance rates rose by as much as 50% in Florida at July 1 renewals and by up to 40% in the United States overall, reinsurance broker Gallagher Re said on Friday, as reinsurers grappled with higher inflation...
Governor, Florida Cat Fund Board Agree to Raise Premiums for Insurers
Jul 1 2022 // Florida property insurers have another cost increase to manage after the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund was approved for a premium increase. The fund’s governing body, the State Board of Administration, this...
Gone with the Flo: Progressive Stops Writing DP-3 Policies in Florida
Jul 1 2022 // Eight months after it stopped renewing homeowners and rental property policies in Florida, Progressive Insurance announced it will now stop writing new dwelling-fire business in the distressed Florida market. “To...
Hattersley Faults Patronis for Inaction on Florida Insurance Crisis
Jun 30 2022 // A Democratic challenger to Florida’s chief financial officer this week laid the blame for some of the state’s property insurance woes at the feet of incumbent Jimmy Patronis. “Patronis has had five years...
Florida Driver Could Get $12M After Insurer Did Not Respond to Settlement Offer
Jun 29 2022 // A Florida accident victim gets a second chance to compel an auto insurer to pay a $12.7 million judgment after the insurer failed to respond to a $10,000 settlement offer, a federal appellate court ruled Tuesday. A divided...
Starting July 1, Sea-Level Rise Studies Required for Florida Gov’t Coastal Structures
Jun 29 2022 // Starting Friday, July 1, state and local governments will have to conduct a sea-level impact study if they build anything near Florida’s coastline, the result of a state law passed in 2020. Although the law applies...
Court Ruling Provides Ammo for Insurers in Florida AOB Cases
Jun 29 2022 // Florida insurers may have another weapon in the war over assignments of benefits in insurance claims, thanks to an appeals court ruling that went against one of the insurance industry’s most visible and active...
Business Moves: Sandbox Invests in Florida Insurance Data Firm Confianza
Jun 27 2022 // Florida-based Confianza Inc., which provides data analytics and machine learning to insurance agents, announced that it had closed its round of seed funding, with most of the capital coming from Sandbox Insurtech...
Florida OIR Trims Citizens’ HO Rate Increase to 6.4%
Jun 27 2022 // Five months ago, Citizens Property Insurance Corp. filed for a near-maximum-allowed rate increase for most of its policies, citing the need to continue depopulating the rapidly growing insurer of last resort. Last week,...
After Halting New Business in Florida, Bankers Faults Reinsurers’ Excessive Price Hikes
Jun 27 2022 // Two more Florida property insurers have stopped accepting new business in the state. One of them blamed it partly on unfair and unexpectedly large price increases from reinsurers this year. The other carrier said that,...
