Capitol to Courthouse Florida Insurance Report: Thursday, October 3
Oct 3, 2013
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Daily Florida Insurance-Related Events
There are no events scheduled for today.
Daily Florida Insurance-Related News
Senator Ring files bill to lower Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund deductible
Sen. Jeremy Ring, D-Margate, will renew his attempts to keep the current size of the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund at $17 billion and lower the deductible for insurers from $7.5 billion to $5 billion, The Florida Current’s Gray Rohrer reports.
More Citizens policies to be moved, but previous takeout numbers down
The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation approved 220,649 policies in state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp. to be taken over by private companies in December, the department announced via Twitter Monday, The Florida Current’s Gray Rohrer reports.
Florida Force-Placed Settlement Overcomes Challenge from Rival California Plaintiffs
A federal court in Miami has cleared the way for final action in a force-placed insurance (FPI) lawsuit against J.P. Morgan Chase that is consistent with the emerging belief that federal courts are going to come down harshly on the side of consumers in FPI litigation, Arthur Postal reports for National Underwriter’s PropertyCasualty360.com.
How Florida delegation voted on flood insurance bills
The most surprising thing about the growing alarm in Washington over dramatic flood insurance rate hikes is how quietly the law enabling those increases came to pass, Tampa Bay Times’ Alex Leary reports.
Florida Atlantic Professor Invents Anti-Texting While Driving System
Texting while driving just became illegal in Florida this week, but a Florida Atlantic University professor has invented a system that can stop your phone from texting entirely while you’re driving on the road, Allison Nielsen reports for SunshineStateNews.com.
Medical Malpractice Fight Going to Appeals Court
The latest round in Florida’s long-running legal and political fight about medical malpractice is headed to a federal appeals court, THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA’s Jim Saunders reports via SunshineStateNews.com.
Florida Department of Financial Services issues more navigator licenses
Five more Affordable Care Act Navigators were given the OK to go to work Wednesday, The Florida Current’s James Call reports.
Cheapest Florida Health Plan Costs $86 A Month
The most expensive health insurance premiums for individuals in Florida in the new government-run online marketplace are in the Florida Keys, and the cheapest premiums are for a bare-bones plan offered in Broward County, according to federal data, the Associated Press reports via the St. Augustine Record.
Florida prison officials didn’t ask, companies didn’t tell about hundreds of malpractice cases
The Florida Department of Corrections awarded a five-year, $1.2 billion contract to provide medical care for thousands of state prisoners in north and central Florida to Corizon, a Tennessee company that was sued 660 times for malpractice in the last five years, BrowardBulldog.org’s Dan Christenson reports.
Blog: Rick Scott’s budget chief says $500 million tax cut could work
Gov. Rick Scott’s budget chief has outlined a path to accomplish the governor’s proposed $500 million tax cut while still bolstering the state’s emergency savings fund, Tampa Bay Times’ Tia Mitchell reports on the Miami Herald’s “Naked Politics” blog.
Fasano irked by use of name in attack mailer
Pasco Tax Collector Mike Fasano said he tried to stay neutral in what has quickly become a nasty race to replace him in the state Legislature, the Tampa Tribune’s Laura Kinsler reports.
Miccosukees lose federal racketeering case against former chairman, Miami lawyers
The Miccosukee Tribe has lost a bruising legal fight in Miami federal court against its one-time chairman Billy Cypress, accused of stealing millions, and its former lawyers, accused of collaborating with him, Jay Weaver reports for the Miami Herald.
Amid Terrorism Backstop Debate, Concerns Raised over State’s Preparedness for Attacks
Emergency-response managers from most major cities say they need more federal funds and information than they currently receive if they are to properly respond to a terrorist attack involving a radiological dispersal device or an improvised nuclear device, the Government Accountability Office says, Arthur Postal reports for National Underwriter’s PropertyCasualty360.com.
Britain won’t intervene in catastrophe bond market for now
British regulators see no case for intervening to stop a wave of money moving into insurance-linked securities such as catastrophe bonds, saying the trend should not be overstated, Reuters reports.
NAPSLO Evolves with Wholesale Market
Qualitative evidence, like record attendance at this year’s NAPSLO Annual Convention, and quantitative analysis, including A.M. Best’s 2013 Special Report on U.S. Surplus Lines, indicate that the surplus lines industry is healthy with growth anticipated for the coming year, Susan Henderson reports for National Underwriter’s PropertyCasualty360.com.
The impact and echoes of the Wal-Mart discrimination case
When the U.S. Supreme Court issued its 5-4 decision in Wal-Mart v. Dukes in June 2011, no one needed a Richter scale to know it was a Big One. In throwing out a mammoth lawsuit by women employees who claimed that they’d been systematically underpaid and underpromoted by the world’s biggest corporation, the ruling upended decades of employment discrimination law and raised serious barriers to future large-scale discrimination cases of every kind, Nancy Martin reports for ProPublica via BrowardBulldog.org.
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