Capitol to Courthouse Florida Insurance Report: Tuesday, July 12
Jul 12, 2011
To go directly to the section of your choice, click on a hyperlink below. Other hyperlinks to meeting information, bills and news are noted in bold type.
Daily Florida Insurance-Related Events
(CANCELED) 10:00 a.m.–Florida Surplus Lines Service Office National Clearinghouse Committee meeting. Agenda includes issues pertaining to the proposed national surplus lines tax clearinghouse. To view the meeting notice, click here.
12:30 p.m.–Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (“Citizens”) Market Accountability Advisory Committee Meeting. Teleconference: 866-361-7525; conference code: 7849939192. To view the meeting notice, click here.
2:30 p.m.–Citizens Audit Committee meeting. Teleconference: 866-361-7525; conference code: 3877541849. To view the meeting notice, click here.
4:00 p.m.–Citizens Finance and Investment Committee meeting; 4:00 p.m. To view the meeting notice, click here.
Wall Street Journal: Florida Title Insurer Pays $4.5 million to Settle Kickback Allegations
Title insurance firm Fidelity National Financial Inc. will pay $4.5 million to settle allegations that it paid kickbacks to real-estate agents who referred business to the company.
Home insurance premiums skyrocketing
In these days when people feel they’ve cut their spending and tightened their belts to the limit, here comes another financial blow. Most Florida residents are seeing their home insurance premiums skyrocket.
Insurance of last resort is first choice for coastal properties – especially in Florida
A record number of home and commercial property owners – at 3 million, half of which are in Florida – were insured by state-run property insurers at the end of 2010, according to a national report released Monday.
After inspections, Citizens’ Property rates rose $476
Citizens Property Insurance policyholders’ premiums rose by $476 on average after the insurer inspected their properties.
Florida Senator Fasano: Insurance Reforms Growing Not Shrinking Citizens
The property insurance reforms signed into law this May were intended to attract more private insurance companies to Florida.
Water pipe insurance not a scam, but a waste of money
A company called HomeServe is sending letters offering “water line service coverage” for $59.88 a year.
Palm Bay businessman Glen Meisenzahl walked into his drywall business, flipped on the air-conditioner and stepped out to run a few errands.
Fire districts struggle to stay afloat
There will be some early retirements, but no layoffs.
Drought Spreads Pain From Florida to Arizona
The heat and the drought are so bad in this southwest corner of Georgia that hogs can barely eat.
1st trial starts in Florida in Veterans Administration hospital infections
The first trial of a lawsuit has begun in Miami among hundreds of cases filed by veterans claiming serious infections were caused by shoddy hygiene practices at Veterans Administration hospitals.
Florida moving ahead with its own health care exchange based on state not federal law
The federal government on Monday announced new rules for health exchanges which are a key part of the federal health care reform legislation now being challenged by Florida and other states.
Feds Moving on Health Care Law, Governor Scott Not Budging
Federal regulators charged with implementing the Affordable Care Act stated Monday they are trying to work with states to start up the law’s health care “exchanges” — exchanges are one-stop consumer markets for buying insurance.
David Simmons, Lizbeth Benacquisto Have Strong second quarter
Republican incumbents David Simmons and Lizbeth Benacquisto outpaced other Senate candidates in raising campaign cash during the second quarter of 2011, new reports show.
Space Coast Republican Representative Steve Crisafulli and a young Broward Democrat currently on the Parkland city commission were among the leading fundraisers in House races for the three months that ended June 30, writes David Royse of the News Service of Florida.
U.S. labor secretary visits South Florida on heat stroke prevention campaign
U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis will tour Florida Power & Light Co.’s Lauderdale Power Plant in Dania Beach on Wednesday to promote a national outreach effort to protect outdoor workers from heat-related illnesses.
Alabama Governor Names Insurance Market Study Commission
Alabama Governor Robert Bentley has appointed 24 people to a panel that will examine the state’s insurance market and suggest improvements.
Property & Casualty Industry Looks to Kill Amendment Ending Flood Program
The property and casualty insurance industry is sending a letter to members of the House urging them to reject a flood-insurance bill amendment that would phase out the program as of January.
Insurance policies’ fine print leaves some flooded Texas metro-area homeowners stranded
The series of thunderstorms that flooded a number of metro-area homes last week has given homeowners a double shock as they handle the damage and discover their insurance may not cover it.
Federal Court Upholds Umbrella Insurer in Asbestos Coverage Dispute
A federal appeals court has agreed that Continental Insurance Co. did not have a duty to defend asbestos injury claims against the automotive supplier Federal-Mogul Corp. as its umbrella carrier because the primary coverage provided by three other insurers had not been exhausted.
Marsh: Despite catastrophe losses, insurers well-capitalized
The international insurance market remains well-capitalized and “generally competitive” despite a run of natural disasters in the second quarter of the year, Marsh Inc. said in an analysis released Monday.
Moody’s says a recent outline put forth by the International Association of Insurance Supervisors regarding a regulatory framework to monitor international insurers’ group-wide activities is credit positive.
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