Capitol to Courthouse Florida Insurance Report: Wednesday, May 22
May 22, 2013
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
There are no Florida insurance related events scheduled for today.
Daily Florida Insurance-Related News
Homes Next to Killer Florida Sinkhole to Be Demolished
The homes on either side of the Tampa area house where a sinkhole opened under a man’s bedroom are being demolished, the Associated Press reports via ABC News.
Florida officials to hear gripes against insurers
Homeowners who have a beef with Citizens, Universal Property or other insurers can tell it to state advocates in person this week, Charles Elmore reports for the Palm Beach Post.
Strong Tornadoes Rare In South Florida
We have all seen the devastation left in the wake of an EF-5 tornado that tore through Moore, Oklahoma Monday afternoon. Miami has the occasional tornado, but Oklahoma is in the middle of tornado alley which set the stage for Monday’s twister, CBS4-TV in Miami reports.
How do tornado winds compare with hurricanes?
Following the tragic tornado devastation in Oklahoma on Monday, some might wonder how tornado winds compare with those of hurricanes, Sun-Sentinel’s Ken Kaye writes.
Florida Keys prepare for 2013 storm season
Residents of the Florida Keys and other coastal areas soon will have an additional set of multicolored maps to consult during the approach of a tropical storm or hurricane, reports Mandy Miles for KeysNews.com
Florida Regulators Net Arson, Insurance Fraud in “Operation Christmas Tree”
An investigation revealed that three fires in Marion County had been intentionally set and fraudulent insurance claims filed associated with these fires, reports ClaimsJournal.com.
Palm Beach County gets $144,000 in workers’ compensation fraud-fighting state funding
The Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office will soon have a full-time prosecutor assigned to fight workers compensation fraud, thanks to some extra state funding, reports Daphne Duret for the Palm Beach Post.
Aviation insurance firm seeks Sarasota hiring incentives
The Sarasota County Commission is scheduled to review an application today for Beacon Aviation Services, a local aviation industry insurance firm, to receive up to $120,000 in subsidies, the Business Observer reports.
Florida’s Brown & Brown, Inc. Enters Into Agreement to Acquire Beecher Carlson Holdings
J. Powell Brown, Chief Executive Officer and President of Brown & Brown, Inc. announced that Brown & Brown, Inc. has entered into a merger agreement to acquire Beecher Carlson Holdings, Inc., an insurance and risk management broker with operations that include retail brokerage, program management and captive management, from Austin Ventures, FSPM and a group of individual employee and non-employee equityholders. The company’s press release details the re-organization that will take place.
Governor Scott approves elections bill
Gov. Rick Scott signed the measure late Monday night. It allows supervisors of elections to restore the early-voting days cut two years ago. Voter advocates hail the measure as a great stride forward, reports Bill Cotterell for The Florida Current.
Florida Governor gets anti-texting bill
More than a dozen bills Tuesday were delivered to the governor’s office. The package included environmental and health proposals along with a long-sought ban on texting while driving, The Florida Current reports.
South Florida Water Management District head resigns
In a move that surprised some, Melissa Meeker, executive director of the South Florida Water Management District resigned from her $165,000-a-year position, the Jupiter Courier’s Ed Killer reports via TCPalm.com.
Objectivity of Taxpayer-funded Florida gambling study faces immediate questions
Spectrum Gaming Group suffered a virtual body slam once it was announced last month as winner of a $400,000 contract to study the present and future effects of gambling in Florida, the Tampa Tribune’s James Rosica reports.
Monster python caught in South Florida
The Associated Press reports that the longest Burmese python ever caught in the state – 18 feet, 8 inches long and 128 pounds – was found alongside a rural South Florida road, wildlife officials said Monday.
Blog: Florida Department of Education Mulls Re-Organization
Education Commissioner Tony Bennett is mulling a reorganization of the state Department of Education, but the project has been slowed by laws that spell out the responsibilities of some positions at the agency, reports Brandon Larrabee of the News Service of Florida via SaintPetersBlog.com.
Back-to-School sales tax holiday to extend to electronics
For the first time, Florida is expanding its annual back-to-school sales tax holiday to cover certain electronic products selling for up to $750, reports Tampa Bay Times’ Susan Thurston. This year’s tax holiday is Aug. 2-4.
Oklahoma disaster stirs caution among catastrophe-bond investors
Reuters reports that catastrophe-bond investors may not have to cover part of the impact of Monday’s tornado in Oklahoma because the total losses could be insufficient to result in a payout, according to fund managersArmy Corps study offers options to reduce storm-surge risk in Louisiana parishes.
MetLife to Repatriate Offshore Reinsurance Unit
On May 21 MetLife, the largest life insurer in the U.S., said that it would increase the transparency of its business by moving some of the deals the company uses to hedge risk back to the U.S. from offshore, reports Mary Williams Walsh for The New York Times.
Federal court approves Louisiana sinkhole class-action suit
A federal court has approved a class-action lawsuit for people impacted by the giant Louisiana sinkhole, reports WAFB-TV.
Army Corps study offers options to reduce storm-surge risk in Louisiana parishes
A study by the Army Corps of Engineers provides options for mitigating the risk of storm surges in three Louisiana parishes, The Advocate’s Aaron Looney reports.
Federal Appeals Court Nixes Mississippi Property Owners’ Greenhouse Emissions Damages Suit
A federal appeals panel has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by a group of Mississippi Gulf Coast residents and landowners who alleged that emissions by energy companies contributed to global warming, which intensified Hurricane Katrina, which, in turn, damaged their property, the Associated Press reports via Insurance Journal.
New Hampshire Governor Re-Appoints Roger Sevigny as Insurance Commissioner
Roger Sevigny has been re-appointed New Hampshire’s insurance commissioner by Governor Maggie Hassan, reports Arthur Postal for PropertyCasualty360.com.
New York Assemblyman Takes Aim at Insurer Use of Anti-Concurrent Causation Clauses
A New York State Assemblyman has introduced a bill that seeks to prohibit the insurers’ use of anti-concurrent causation clauses in the state, Insurance Journal reports.
Click here to follow Colodny Fass& Webb on Twitter (@CFTLAWcom)
To unsubscribe from this newsletter, please send an e-mail to Brooke Ellis at bellis@cftlaw.com