Capitol to Courthouse Headliners: Thursday, October 8
Oct 8, 2009
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Florida CFO Alex Sink announced today that her Division of Insurance Fraud arrested a Miami insurance agent for the second time in less than a month for stealing more than $14 million by submitting thousands of fraudulent premium finance contracts for fictitious policyholders.
60,000 Nationwide customers being cut
Nationwide is the latest insurer to drop homeowners’ policies in Florida with the announcement late Wednesday that 60,000 policies will not be renewed starting next year.
Florida State Senator J.D. Alexander: On insurance, truth ugly
Floridians want straight talk from public officials. They want to be able to form opinions on the direction our state’s headed with all the facts on the table.
Florida Homeowners could lose insurance coverage over Chinese-drywall woes
Homeowners living in houses with suspect Chinese drywall are already in a bind: Their air conditioners stop working, a rotten-egg smell permeates their homes, they suffer a litany of health problems including troubled breathing, nosebleeds and headaches.
Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty today issued orders to insurance companies that have not had approved new rates to comply with recent legislation that requires insurers to offer Medicare supplement policies for individuals under 65 years of age who are eligible for and enrolled in Medicare by reason of disability or end-stage renal disease.
Medical malpractice insurance rates dropped in Florida in 2008
Medical malpractice insurance rates in Florida were down 10 percent last year, insurance regulators reported today.
On Appeal 3rd DCA ruling should help car insurance companies
The 3rd District Court of Appeal overturned more than a decade of case law Wednesday and made it easier for auto insurance companies to deny claims as unreasonable, unrelated to an accident or simply unnecessary.
Former Fla. House Speaker Sansom now faces special state inquiry
Most of criminial charges dismissed Monday by judge
Former statewide prosecutor Melanie Hines will investigate an ethics complaint against ex-House Speaker Ray Sansom on behalf of a special Florida House committee.
Thrasher to preside over Fla. Senate ethics panel
Now that he’s been officially voted into office, Sen.-elect John Thrasher has his committee assignments.
In Florida governor’s race, Democrat Sink retains fundraising lead over GOP’s McCollum
You know Florida is in for an unusual election cycle when the Democratic candidate for governor raises more money than the Republican.
- Florida Association of Counties commends CFO Sink for her commitment to Florida’s counties
- McCollum says he banked more than $1 million
- Dockery ‘leaning toward’ running for Fla. governor
- Blog: Crist rakes in another $2.4M
Former Miami Mayor Maurice Ferre officially launched his upstart bid for the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, banking on political experience and potential appeal in the fast-growing Hispanic community to overtake rivals with multimillion-dollar head starts.
Republicans are showing how much they want to hold on to Florida’s Congressional District 16 in 2010, which through scandals involving prior office holders has flipped parties the past two elections.
Titusville Democrat joins 2010 race for state House 29 seat
Eddie Freeman, a teacher from Titusville, has joined the Democratic race for what will be the open state House 29 seat in 2010 that covers parts of Brevard and Indian River counties.
Florida GOP third-quarter take exceeded $4 million
Earlier this week, the Florida Democratic Party excitedly reported it raised nearly $2.5 million for the quarter that ended last week, or nearly three times the $870,000 average of what it usually raises in the third quarter of a non-election year.
Former Florida Senate President Ken Pruitt says he isn’t the unnamed official in a bribery scandal
Former state Senate President Ken Pruitt resigned abruptly at the end of the spring legislative session, so when an indictment came out last week suggesting a public official had accepted a bribe, some people tried to connect the dots to Pruitt.
Fla. state budget disaster ahead
Florida lawmakers came to the state Capitol this week with unemployment still in double digits and a bleak reality setting in: The state budget is in shambles. Growth that fueled state revenues for decades has gone bust.
Too much politics in regulation, utility analysts say
”Moody’s views political intervention in the utility regulatory process as detrimental to credit quality, sometimes resulting in adverse rate case outcomes,” Moody’s Investors Service wrote in its Global Credit Research letter.
- Moody’s says rate-hike denials could raise utilities’ borrowing costs
- FPL customers may pay $63 million for nuclear projects
New Arbitration Process Expedites Smaller Claims
The Association of Insurance and Reinsurance Run-Off Companies has launched an arbitration procedure designed to expedite small and “less-complicated” claims between insurers and reinsurers.
Allstate Agents Petition IRS for Review of Independent Contractor Status
The National Association of Professional Allstate Agents (NAPAA) has published and is distributing a petition to the Internal Revenue Service, written by an unidentified Allstate agent, questioning whether Allstate has lived up to its side of the bargain since it converted the majority of its sales force from employee to independent contractor status in 2000.
Utah Commissioner Warns of “Nationwide” Scam
Utah officials are warning the public of an international mail fraud scheme involving a bogus letter said to be from Nationwide Insurance. The scam has spread to 10 states, according to the Utah Department of Insurance.
PCI Speaks Up For Preserving McCarran-Ferguson Law
A bill to amend the McCarran-Ferguson Act would reduce competition for consumers in the important health and medical liability insurance markets, according to testimony submitted to the House Judiciary Committee by the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI).
Understanding The Valuations Of Condo Association Property
Statutes and even associational declarations differ on the valuation method required when placing insurance coverage on the association’s property. Actual cash value (ACV), replacement cost (RC) and even market value are mandated options in statute and associational declarations and bylaws.
Writing From Padang, Indonesia – Iwent to a flattened college on Saturday. The names of the dead were scrawled on a sliver of salvaged dry-erase board.
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