Latest Florida Headlines

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

Citizens Suspends Binding, Could Be Most Affected as Hurricane Aims for Big Bend

Aug 29 2023 // Florida property insurers were keeping their fingers crossed Tuesday as the latest projections indicated that the worst of Hurricane Idalia may miss some of the most heavily populated parts of the state’s west...

2023 to Test Recent Growth in Private Flood Insurance Market

Aug 29 2023 // The private flood insurance market has been growing but 2023 may provide a real test following Tropical Storm Hilary in California as well as future storms that may come during the remainder of the Atlantic hurricane...

NCCI Calls for Average 15% Decrease in Florida Workers’ Compensation Rates

Aug 29 2023 // The National Council on Compensation Insurance has proposed an average 15.1% decrease in rates for Florida, starting Jan. 1, the latest and one of the largest reduction recommendations in more than a decade of rate...

Farmers Insurance Laying Off 11% of Workforce, Citing Industry Challenges

Aug 28 2023 // Farmers Insurance announced it will part ways with approximately 2,400 employees – 11% of its workforce across all lines of business.“Decisions like these are never easy, and we are committed to doing our best to...

Man Kills Three in Racially Motivated Shooting at Jacksonville Store

Aug 28 2023 // A masked white man carrying at least one weapon bearing a swastika fatally shot three Black people inside a Florida store Saturday in an attack with a clear motive of racial hatred, officials said.The shooting in a Dollar...

Florida Braces for Another One as Idalia Strengthens in Gulf

Aug 28 2023 // Insureds and insurers across much of Florida began bracing for the impact of another major hurricane as Tropical Storm Idalia was expected to strengthen and make landfall by Wednesday afternoon.Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis...

3M Agrees to Pay More Than $5.5 Billion Over Military Earplugs

Aug 28 2023 // 3M Co. has tentatively agreed to pay more than $5.5 billion to resolve over 300,000 lawsuits claiming it sold the US military defective combat earplugs, people familiar with the deal said.The settlement would avert a...

Home Insurance as a Work Benefit? Recoop Says It’s Bringing it to Florida and All States

Aug 28 2023 // Health insurance. Dental insurance. Accidental death and dismemberment. Why not homeowners insurance as an employee benefit?That’s exactly what Darren Wood is thinking. Wood is the founder and chief product officer...

How Aerial Imagery and AI are Helping Florida’s Insurers with Climate Change and Fraud

Aug 25 2023 // Residents of Southeastern states like Florida will be looking ahead to the heart of hurricane season with trepidation. With climate change bringing storms that are wetter, slower and more prone to intensifying rapidly,...

Florida Citizens Posts Info on New Flood Insurance Requirements

Aug 24 2023 // Citizens Property Insurance Corp., Florida’s residual but still-largest property insurer, has posted new information about when and where flood insurance is required for policyholders.The Florida Legislature last...

South Florida Contractor Charged with Underreporting Payroll by $5.9 Million

Aug 24 2023 // Florida authorities this week charged a south Florida contractor with underreporting his payroll by almost $6 million, cheating his workers’ compensation insurer out of more than $350,000 in premiums.Miguel Porras,...

Orion180, Headquartered in Florida, Now Approved to Do Business in the State

Aug 23 2023 // Another insurance firm is expanding into Florida, the state in which it has had its headquarters for several years.Orion180, founded in 2016, with corporate offices in Melbourne, Florida, has been approved by state...

Florida OIR Tells Citizens to Rethink Maximum Rate Increase on HO Policies

Aug 22 2023 // When Citizens Property Insurance Corp. in June filed for the maximum rate increases allowed by its statutory glidepath, many in the Florida insurance industry saw it as a good thing, needed to help steer policyholders back...

Insureds Hot About Flood Insurance Costs? Some Areas Are Seeing 35% Discounts

Aug 22 2023 // Florida property owners stuck with higher premiums and new flood insurance mandates may want to nudge their local governments to take a look at the town of Cutler Bay and the counties of Monroe, Pinellas and Ocala.Those...

Family of NFL QB Haskins Reaches Settlement After Death on Florida Interstate

Aug 21 2023 // FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The estate of late NFL quarterback Dwayne Haskins has reached a “partial settlement” in its lawsuit against the driver, the owner and the broker of the dump truck that struck...

Police Respond to ‘Chaos’ as Florida Condo Owners Outraged Over Insurance Fees

Aug 21 2023 // Shouts, shoves and chaos broke out and police had to be called when condominium owners in Pembroke Pines, Florida, objected to being shut out of an association meeting called to discuss higher fees due to spiking insurance...

Business Moves

Aug 21 2023 // Marsh McLennan Agency, Graham Co.Marsh McLennan Agency, a subsidiary of Marsh, acquired Graham Company, a risk management consultancy and independent insurance and employee benefits broker. Founded in 1960, Graham Company...

People & Places

Aug 21 2023 // Miller, an independent specialist re/insurance broker, expanded its U.S. Casualty team, appointing Galen Brislane and Danielle Thorsteinson as account executives.Brislane is based in Bermuda and Thorsteinson is based in...

Facts Are Friends

Aug 21 2023 // Recently, a carrier’s representatives walked into one of my client’s offices. This carrier announced they needed a 25% rate increase because of the carriers’ poor loss ratios. My top clients are well...

Judge Won’t Block Florida Law Banning Chinese Ownership of Property

Aug 18 2023 // (Reuters) – A U.S. judge in Florida on Thursday declined to block the state’s law barring citizens of China and other “countries of concern” from owning homes or land in the state.U.S. District...