Latest Florida Headlines
All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Time Limit and Gap in Comp Benefits Not Unconstitutional, Florida Court Says
Nov 15 2021 // What happens when a worker’s injury needs follow-up surgery many years later, requiring the employee to miss months of paychecks? In Florida, he’s probably out luck if he’s hoping for workers’...
FedNat Hopes to Improve Numbers By Concentrating on Florida Market
Nov 10 2021 // Who would have thought, given what many have called a crisis in the Florida property insurance market, that an insurance company would decide it could improve its bottom line by focusing solely on the storm-plagued...
Hub Acquires Florida’s Rider Insurance
Nov 5 2021 // Hub International, a global insurance brokerage and financial services firm, has acquired Rider Insurance Group, an agency based in Fort Myers, Florida. Rider provides personal lines and commercial insurance, including...
Florida Juries Ding Walmart, Hospital for Injuries
Nov 5 2021 // Florida juries in the last month have returned two hefty verdicts in favor of plaintiffs, one for a slip and fall at a Walmart and one for the death of a stroke patient at a hospital. In Apopka, near Orlando, a jury...
Florida Appeals Court: Delayed Claim Document Doesn’t Hurt Insurer
Nov 5 2021 // A week after a federal court found that waiting two years to file a property claim is too long, a state court reached a different conclusion: Failing to timely file supporting documents on a claim does not necessarily harm...
Florida Insurers Take Heart From Appeals Court Rejection of Large Attorney Fee
Nov 3 2021 // Few things enrage insurers more than what appear to be exorbitant attorney fees, and Florida may be ground-zero on that issue, thanks in part to the state’s fee-multiplier statute. So, industry advocates were...
Florida Man Jailed on Insurance Fraud After ‘Theft’ of Motorcycle
Nov 1 2021 // Cameras are everywhere these days, a Florida man learned after authorities say he faked the theft of a pricey motorcycle in order to gain an insurance payout. Jeffrey Stephens, 27, was arrested Friday on fraud charges, the...
Get-A-Quote Expanding Online Tool in Florida
Nov 1 2021 // An online shopping tool, GetAQuote.com, is expanding its service to include more homeowners’ insurance offerings in Florida, the company announced. The firm began in Boca Raton, focused on upper-end homes and country...
Some Florida Agents Caught Off-Guard by Boom in Solar Power
Nov 1 2021 // Florida may be known as the Sunshine State, but some insurance agents say they’ve been unprepared for the recent boom in rooftop solar power installations across the state, installations that can affect coverage,...
Florida’s Boyd Promises New Roof Cost and Solicitation Bills
Oct 29 2021 // Despite recent signals that another round of significant property insurance reforms may be put on the back burner in the upcoming Florida legislative session, a leading committee chair said this week that more needs to be...
Florida Supreme Court Disbars Plaintiffs’ Lawyer After Deceptions
Oct 28 2021 // The Florida Supreme Court has disbarred an Orlando plaintiffs’ lawyer after the court said he intentionally deceived a trial court and his former wife about his income. Karl Koepke, a practicing attorney since 1965,...
Florida Posts New Workers’ Comp Doctor Reimbursement, But Lawmakers Must Review
Oct 28 2021 // The Florida Division of Workers’ Compensation has adopted a new reimbursement manual, governing fee schedules and payments to doctors and other health care providers. The 2020 Health Care Provider Reimbursement...
Florida DFS Mum After it Drops Public Adjuster Investigation
Oct 25 2021 // Florida property insurers may remember the strange case of Contender Claims Consultants and its associate, now-suspended Miami attorney Scot Strems. Back in 2019, it was the height of concerns about abuses of the...
Florida Lawmakers May Hold Off on More Insurance Reforms, Despite Warnings
Oct 25 2021 // Despite hearing warnings of more rate hikes and more red ink from property insurers in coming months, Florida lawmakers may little appetite for further, significant changes to the state’s insurance laws. Instead, the...
Florida Litigated Claims Dropped 9% in September
Oct 22 2021 // The Florida Legislature’s recent efforts to curtail assignments-of-benefits abuse and excessive claims litigation may be having an impact, according to a new report from a lawsuit-tracking firm. CaseGlide, a...
Florida Suit Claims 2-Year-old Found Used Condom in Posh Hotel Room
Oct 21 2021 // A New Jersey couple is suing Miami’s famous Biltmore Hotel, alleging negligence over dirty conditions in a room after they said their 2-year-old daughter was found with a used condom in her mouth. The hotel room also...
AM Best Drops Florida Farm Bureau Outlook to Negative After Surplus Declines
Oct 21 2021 // Credit-rating agency AM Best has downgraded its outlook for Florida Farm Bureau Casualty Co., from stable to negative, due to the company’s declining surplus in a disaster-prone state. “The revised outlooks...
No App for That: Florida Court Bans Lawyer-Finding Service, But More to Come
Oct 21 2021 // A Florida Supreme Court decision banning an app-based service from connecting ticketed drivers with lawyers may be a win for the law profession, but it is another impediment to average citizens gaining access to the court...
Citizens’ CEO: Florida Insurers Swimming in a Sea of Red Ink; Capital Drying Up
Oct 19 2021 // It’s not just a few Florida property insurance companies that are running into financial trouble. Almost every carrier is losing money in 2021 and the future does not look any better, the CEO of Citizens Property...
Insurers’ Payments to Expert Witnesses Are Discoverable, Florida Supreme Court Says
Oct 18 2021 // Florida insurance companies and their lawyers must disclose their financial arrangements with expert witnesses when asked to do so in litigation, the state Supreme Court has decided. In two decisions last week, the high...
