More paperwork will be required of homeowners seeking discount

By Paul Flemming • Florida Capital News •
March 10, 2010
Homeowners can still get insurance discounts for
hurricane clips and window shutters, they’ll just
have to file more paperwork to get them.
It’s a change sought by the insurance industry, part
of addressing what companies say is a financial
squeeze of low rates exacerbated by fraudulent
discounts.
“Criminals are very ambitious and they’ll …
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Want Break On Insurance Bill? House Will Have To Pose

TALLAHASSEE – Sam Miller has good reason to keep his house as indestructible as possible.
As one of Florida’s top insurance gurus, he knows reinforced roof, thicker drywall, even a couple of hurricane shutters can lower his monthly bill.
It takes a private inspector to certify it all.
But with a vote by the Florida Cabinet Tuesday, now …
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Getting public records could be easier under bill developed by Crist panel

Posted: 7:55 p.m. Monday, March 8, 2010
TALLAHASSEE — Open government advocates and a state senator who’s had her own problems obtaining public records are backing a sweeping bill making it easier for people to get government records.
The measure (SB 1598, HB 1211) is the product of Gov. Charlie Crist’s Commission on Open Government, which has …
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More new Florida property insurers in trouble

The Associated Press 
Several more small startup property insurers in Florida are headed for insolvency, leaving tens of thousands of homeowners looking for a new company as hurricane season approaches June 1.
Florida regulators are working quickly to mesh the troubled insurers with larger companies to soften the impact on home and business owners.
The Office of Insurance …
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Florida’s unacceptable risk

Published: Sunday, March 7, 2010 at 1:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, March 5, 2010 at 5:52 p.m.
Florida homeowners have learned to live with the risk of hurricanes. They shouldn’t have to live with the risk that their property insurer won’t cover their losses if disaster strikes.
Yet, as detailed last Sunday in a Herald-Tribune investigative report by …
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Senators narrowly reject insurance watchdog’s proposal

by Julie Patel on March 5, 2010 10:07 AM
The Florida Senate’s insurance committee narrowly struck down a proposal from Insurance Consumer Advocate Sean Shaw this week that would allow his office to participate in insurance rate hearings.
It would specifically give his office access to confidential documents involved in calculating rates so it can provide its …
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Insurance Reform is needed in Florida

Published Friday, March 5, 2010
by Joe Shea
Floridians are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea when it  comes to the insurance industry. While we have had aggressive regulation of pricing by the State Insurance Commissioner in the past  few years, we have had enormous insurance industry losses due to the  2004 hurricanes, with …
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Gov. Charlie Crist calls for consensus in State of the State speech

THE STATE OF THE STATE ADDRESS
BY STEVE BOUSQUET

Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau

TALLAHASSEE — In his farewell State of the State speech, Gov. Charlie Crist made a last-ditch appeal to the Legislature on Tuesday to embrace his style of pragmatic bipartisanship to confront Florida’s problems.
Rebranding his populism as “problem-solving” over ideology, the lame-duck governor who is locked in …
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Justices get rental car liability case

By BILL KACZOR – Associated Press Writer

TALLAHASSEE — An accident victim’s lawyer Thursday urged the state Supreme Court to rule that rental car companies can be held liable for damages in an accident they did not cause in Florida, even though a new federal law is designed to shield the companies.

The legal concept of holding …
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