Capitol to Courthouse Florida Insurance Report: Friday, May 17

May 17, 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

 

Wells Fargo and QBE settle for $19.25 million over force-placed insurance

Wells Fargo Bank and QBE Insurance have agreed to settle a class action lawsuit filed by several Miami-Dade County law firms on behalf of Florida homeowners given force-placed insurance for $19.25 million, South Florida Business Journal’s Brian Bandell reported today, May 17, 2013.

 

Blog:  Low Bar Set for Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund Fiscal “Health”

Declaring that the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund will probably be able to pay out on the $17.013 billion of reinsurance it has written for every property insurer in the state (including the state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp., which has about one-fifth of the market) is an extraordinarily low bar for celebration, writes Ray Lehmann in his Right Street Blog on Insurance Journal.


Feds report 92 accused in staged South Florida accidents claimed $20 million in insurance fraud

Operation Sledgehammer, a state and federal investigation, has led to charges being filed against a total of 92 defendants from Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties, reports Paula McMahon for the Sun-Sentinel. 

 

Florida TaxWatch “turkeys” list draws Senate President’s ire

Florida TaxWatch urged Gov. Rick Scott to veto 107 budget items Thursday, but top Florida Senate leaders said the policy-study organization’s annual list of financial “turkeys” is a worn-out publicity gimmick intended more to get publicity for TaxWatch than to safeguard the taxpayers’ money, reports Bill Cotterell for The Florida Current.

 

Governor Scott reappoints 3 passed-over agency heads

Florida Governor Rick Scott announced he was reappointing State Surgeon General John Armstrong along with Michael Crews and Jesse Panuccio.  Crews is secretary of the Department of Corrections. Panuccio is executive director of the Department of Economic Opportunity, the Associated Press reports for the Tampa Tribune.

 

Florida’s 2012 crime rate decreased

Murder Rate Up

Florida’s crime rate dropped 6.5 percent in 2012, including a significant decrease in thefts, robberies and burglaries, according to a Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner released Thursday, reports Brendan Farrington for the Associated Press via Tampa Tribune.

 

Amazon Florida Expansion Crumbles

THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA’s David Royce reports that a plan by Internet retailing giant Amazon.com to build at least one warehouse in Florida has been scrapped, with the company unable to reach an agreement on when it would have to start collecting state sales taxes, an official in Gov. Rick Scott’s office said Thursday.

 

Record $288 Million in Public Funds Goes to Florida’s Ports

Florida’s seaports are set to embark on a massive round of waterfront and transit upgrades as the cargo and cruise facilities are in line for a record-setting year of funding from the Legislature, reports Jim Turner for THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA on FlaglerLive.com.

 

High court strikes down local lien ordinance, but foreclosure bill could aid municipal governments

A local Palm Bay ordinance giving municipal liens on property superiority over mortgages was struck down Thursday by the Florida Supreme Court,  reports Gray Rohrer for The Florida Current. However, a bill headed to Gov. Rick Scott’s desk could give local governments more power to address municipal liens.

 

Internet cafe law may have unintended targets

House Bill 155 was designed to sweep the state of illegal gambling cafes, and it worked. Internet cafes from Jacksonville to Key West have closed, writes Erin Sullivan for the Tampa Bay Times.

 

National Weather Service Report Says Feds’ Warnings About Sandy Were “Exceptionally Accurate,” but Confusing

Federal weather forecasts for Superstorm Sandy were exceptionally accurate last fall, but the warnings themselves were confusing, an internal review found, the Associated Press reports in Insurance Journal.

 

With Captive Attrition, Policy Decline, Allstate Seeks Independent Agents to Sell Branded Products

Faced with attrition in its captive agencies, and declining number of policies-in-force, Allstate Corp. is turning to a surprising distribution source to drive its brand: independent agents, PropertyCasualty360.com’s Mark Ruquet reports.

 

New Medicare Secondary Payer Amendment Proposed 

Congress is again being asked to amend the Medicare Secondary Payment Act, just six months after enacting reform legislation, reports Arthur Postal for PropertyCasualty360.com.

 

Importance of Building Codes Stressed During National Building Safety Month

Federal legislation would provide incentives for states to enact, enforce modern model code

During Disaster Safety and Mitigation Week (May 13-19) – which is part of National Building Safety Month – the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety is touting the importance of state enactment and enforcement of modern building codes, Newsday reports.

 

Will U.S. Supreme Court Enter Climate Change Debate?

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other industry groups, along with states such as Texas and Virginia, have filed nine petitions in recent weeks asking the justices to review four U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations that are designed to cut greenhouse-gas emissions, reports Lawrence Hurley and Valerie Volcovici  for Reuters in Insurance Journal.

 

WCI360.com Report From Bob Hartwig’s Presentation at NCCI Annual Issues Symposium

Insurance Information Institute President Bob Hartwig gave his trademark high energy presentation at today’s NCCI Annual Issues Symposium in Orlando, reports WCI360.com’s Joan Collier.

 

 

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