Latest Florida Headlines

All the headlines from our Florida Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Florida Doctors Paid to Refer Medicare Patients

Aug 12 2010 // A former southwest Florida hospital executive is accusing a health operator of paying doctors to refer Medicare patients to the company’s hospitals.A lawsuit filed by Michael Mastej claims that Naples-based Health...

National Insurance Crime Bureau Starts New Florida Effort

Aug 11 2010 // The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) announced today that it has established its second major medical fraud task force in Florida to counter the increase and spread in acts of medical fraud. The Central Florida Major...

Florida Developer Sues Halliburton Over Oil Spill

Aug 10 2010 // Florida real estate developer St. Joe Co. is suing Halliburton Co. over its role in the rig explosion that led to the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.St. Joe said late Wednesday that Halliburton, which was...

Tornado Hits South Florida

Aug 10 2010 // Meteorologists say a small tornado caused minor damage in Boca Raton. Robert Molleda, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said the tornado formed Saturday with winds likely reaching an estimated 70 miles per...

Florida’s United Insurance Reports Profits in Second Quarter

Aug 10 2010 // United Insurance Holdings Corp., a property and casualty insurance holding company, today reported its financial results for the second quarter and for the six months ended June 30, 2010.For the second quarter, United...

Cruise Ships Traveling In Changing Legal, Security Climate

Aug 9 2010 // Crime on cruise ships is rare, considering 10 million North Americans sailed last year.But some crime victims believe that justice also is rare — due to overlapping investigative powers, difficulty obtaining evidence...

Florida Orders Halt to Sale of Warranty Products

Aug 6 2010 // Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty today announced the Office of Insurance Regulation (Office) has issued an order to Auto Repair Warranty Inc. (ARW), Auto Repair Group LLC (ARG) and Michael R. Petruziello to...

Florida Orders Group to Stop Selling Insurance

Aug 5 2010 // Florida has ordered the Association of Independent Managers to stop selling unauthorized health insurance.The order Tuesday by the Office of Insurance Regulation came too late, though, for up to 1,800 consumers who already...

Florida Insurance Council Names New President

Aug 5 2010 // The Florida Insurance Council¹s (FIC) Executive Board announced today that it has selected Cecil Pearce as the trade association¹s new president. He will succeed Guy Marvin, who announced his retirement earlier...

Florida Home Insurer Royal Palm Asks for 22% Increase

Aug 4 2010 // Royal Palm Insurance Co. is having a hearing before the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation to discuss its proposed rate hike for its dwelling/fire line of insurance. Royal Palm’s proposed, statewide average, rate...

State Farm Florida Ratings Lowered by A.M. Best

Aug 4 2010 // A.M. Best Co. has downgraded the financial strength rating to B- (Fair) from B (Fair) and issuer credit rating to bb- from bb of State Farm Florida Insurance Co., which is based in Winter Haven. The outlook for both...

Miami Has Greatest Hurricane Risk of Florida Cities

Aug 4 2010 // Perhaps not surprisingly, Miami is Florida’s most vulnerable major city to strong hurricane winds, according to Florida State University researchers who developed a new tool to estimate the frequency of extreme...

Some States Cheered by Virginia Healthcare Decision

Aug 3 2010 // Nearly half of all U.S. states are fighting President Barack Obama’s healthcare reforms and those that have taken the battle to court were heartened Monday by a judge’s decision to let Virginia proceed with its...

Research Warns Spill Damage to Gulf Homes Could Reach $28 Billion

Aug 3 2010 // The British Petroleum, DeepWater Horizon oil spill may result in a loss in home value in Gulf coast communities of $648 million over one year, according to a new report from CoreLogic, a provider of information, analytics...

A.M. Best Affirms Financial Strength of Florida Family, Lakeview Insurance

Aug 2 2010 // A.M. Best Co. has upgraded the issuer credit ratings (ICR) to “bbb+” from “bbb” and affirmed the financial strength rating of B++ (Good) of Florida Family Insurance Co. and Lakeview Insurance Co....

Korducki Elected President of Sunshine State Insurance in Florida

Aug 2 2010 // Stephen A. Korducki, a senior insurance and reinsurance executive, has been elected president and CEO of Sunshine State Insurance Co., Inc. (SSIC), a homeowners insurance writer in Florida. Korducki succeeds John E. Rogan...

People

Aug 2 2010 // MarketScout Wholesale (MSW) has expanded operations opening a new location in Tampa, Florida.Greg Lyons joined MSW to lead Florida operations as a senior broker. Prior to joining MSW, Lyons was a property broker with...

Florida Regulators Recover $11 Million for Insurance Policyholders

Jul 30 2010 // The Florida Department of Financial Services says it has helped recover more than $11.1 million for Florida’s insurance consumers in the first half of 2010.“Especially in these tough economic times, it is so...

Florida Citizens’ Rate Increases Way Below Actuaries’ Indications

Jul 28 2010 // If insurance actuaries had their way, rates for homeowners insured through Florida’s public insurer Citizens Property Insurance would be going up 55.9 percent on average. But state law caps how much Citizens can...

Florida’s MDW Insurance Buys Genesis Risk Advisors

Jul 27 2010 // Coral Gables, Florida-based insurance agency MDW Insurance Group has acquired Genesis Risk Advisors. Terms were not disclosed. The founders of Genesis Risk Advisors — Gary Farbish, Craig Weinstein, and Charles...