Capitol to Courthouse Headliners: Monday, July 28

 

To view a complete story, click on a headline below:

 

Groups Line Up For Senate Insurance Hearing

State insurance regulators and industry trade groups are set to testify Tuesday when the Senate Banking Committee holds a hearing on the “state of the nation’s insurance industry.”

Citizens gets veteran CEO James R. Malone

James R. Malone, the founder of a Naples consulting firm that specializes in turning around financially troubled companies, was appointed Friday to chair the board of Citizens Property Insurance Corp.

Bruce Douglas brought more stability to Citizens

Bruce Douglas steps down Thursday as chairman of Citizens Property Insurance Corp.’s board after reversing the misfortunes of the largest state-backed homeowners insurance company in the United States. His replacement, James Malone, was named last week.

Douglas, 73, talked to the Times about his six-year tenure at Citizens, his misgivings with Tallahassee politicians and what lies ahead for the company’s 1.2-million policyholders.

Small insurers step in as bigger companies bail

Edgewater retiree Bob Rabren had insured his homes and cars with State Farm companies since 1955.

Insurers so far not thrilled with state insurance plan

The invitation to bid went out to insurance carriers in Florida but it doesn’t appear they are chomping at the bit.

Can your home weather storms? If not, listen up

The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America has launched a campaign to teach Floridians how to harden their homes to withstand the damaging winds of a hurricane.

Condo owners’ long wait after storm may be ending

After an ordeal of years residents of a hurricane-devastated condo tower are close to returning home.

When Lenny Maites and his wife, Blanche, needed a place to live after hurricanes devastated the Tiara condominium in 2004, he scoffed at her insistence that they sign a one-year lease.

Hutchinson Island condos sued over alleged insurance pay-out issues

The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation is investigating the financial practices of the Colonnades condominiums after several residents filed complaints alleging their homeowner’s association refused to give them insurance money to cover damage from the 2004 hurricanes.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR:  Global warming debate stirs increase in insurance premiums

State Farm is asking for a 47 percent rate increase in order to establish a large pool of money to pay possible hurricane claims.

EDITORIAL:  Like a greedy neighbor

State Farm is there, with its hand out

What will it take to convince insurance companies to write consumer-friendly windstorm policies, honor claims and stay in business in Florida without dumping policies? The answer, according to State Farm Florida Insurance Co., is a 47.1 percent average rate increase on its premiums statewide.

State mortgage regulator no fighter for ban on ex-cons

Despite a claim that he has been ‘proactive’ in trying to bar ex-convicts from the mortgage business, The Miami Herald found that Don Saxon made no serious effort to change the law.

Under fire for allowing bank robbers and racketeers to sell home loans in Florida, the state’s chief mortgage industry regulator said he fought to ban ex-convicts from the business during the 2008 legislative session.

Sink Says Outside Audit Of WellCare Is Needed

Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink has called for an independent audit to ensure that Florida receives “every last dime” that WellCare Health Plans owes the state.

EDITORIAL:  Officials should step up efforts on hurricane shelters that allow pets

As Hurricane Dolly bore down on the Texas coast last week, the news was particularly grim for many of the residents seeking shelter in the Brownsville area:

Uninsured doctors on the rise in South Florida

Injured patients have fewer options

South Florida has become the nation’s capital for doctors without medical malpractice insurance, experts say, leaving patients at risk of getting little financial help for care after a medical error.

State Democrats take aim at Crist’s travels which keep him away from Tallahassee

Tallahassee’s oppressively hot summers have always sent state officials fleeing for other “official” things to do. Gov. Charlie Crist is no exception.

Last year, no one criticized the then-new governor when he took off on a goodwill mission to Israel, hosted a global climate-change summit in Miami in July and spent a week in August fishing in southwest Florida on his boat, Freedom.

State GOP outgunning Democrats in fundraising

It may be nice to be loved, but it pays to be in power.

Florida House District 92 candidates

A gay activist, a former Deerfield Beach commissioner and the mayor of Wilton Manors are vying to represent District 92 in the state House.

Mark O’Brien: ‘Holt kid’ takes on Baker veteran in House race

Here’s a whiz kid trying to oust a longtime politician in a year when voters say they want to change the system or at least change the players.

List of names grows long for Florida Supreme Court justices

Florida’s next two Supreme Court justices will come from among 49 lawyers and judges — a list heavy on appeals judges and Tallahassee residents.

Florida attempts environmental, ranching balance at Babcock Ranch

Management plan goes before Crist, Cabinet

A step in Florida’s foray into balancing “sustainable” ranching with environmental protection at Southwest Florida’s Babcock Ranch will be decided this week by the governor and Cabinet.

PCI Makes Case Against Adding Federal Windstorm Insurance to the NFIP                         

Mixing wind coverage with flood coverage just won’t work, at least on a national level.  And there couldn’t be a worse time to push for the idea.

Brookings Institution’s Hamilton Project:  Use Insurance To Cut Gas Consumption

Faced with record-high gas prices and the November elections, not a day goes by without a politician’s pitch to provide consumers with some relief – be it to permit offshore drilling, crack down on speculators, curb inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve or grant a gas tax holiday. Yet each of these policies would have a negligible impact on gas prices.

Under The Microscope: Spitzer-Era Ban On Insurer Fees

Insurance brokerages who lost billions of dollars in revenue under a ban imposed by former New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer told state regulators on Friday that the rules were never applied universally, and should either be lifted or imposed across the board.

North Carolina Reaches Deal in Mobile Homeowners Insurance Rate Case

North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Jim Long reached an agreement with insurance companies that want to charge more for mobile homeowner’s insurance.

Nev. Court Rules Workers’ Comp OK in Some Suicide Cases

In a precedent-setting case, the Nevada Supreme Court held last Thursday that worker comp benefits can go to families of people who kill themselves if an industrial accident broke down their “rational mental process” and left them suicidal.

Strange Claims Indeed

Mike Dwyer, president, Sinclair-Dwyer and Co. recounted an auto-medical payments claim filed by a woman due to injuries sustained by her left breast.

The insured — apparently endowed enough — got caught in her car door upon exiting. Making matters worse, the door locked with her keys safely in her purse — out of reach.

To unsubscribe from this newsletter, please send an e-mail to ccochran@cftlaw.com