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Tampa insurer among 4 taking citizens' policies

By Times Wires
Published October 30, 2007

Four private Florida insurance companies will assume 173,000 policies from Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state's insurer of last resort. American Integrity Insurance Co. of Florida, Argus Fire & Casualty Co., First Home Insurance Co. and Landmark One Insurance Co. will begin taking Citizens' policies Dec. 17. Customers will be notified beginning Nov. 7 and have the option of retaining their Citizens' policies. American Integrity, based in Tampa, will take more than 75,000 of the Citizens' policies.

2 Florida lenders take big hits

BankUnited Financial Corp. and BankAtlantic Bancorp, the two biggest publicly traded lenders based in Florida, fell more than 9 percent in New York trading on concern over bad loans tied to the state's real estate market. BankUnited shares lost 91 cents to $8.73 at 4:01 p.m. Monday, and BankAtlantic declined 59 cents to $4.13. BankUnited in Coral Gables has declined 69 percent this year on the Nasdaq Stock Market while BankAtlantic in Fort Lauderdale has lost 70 percent on the New York Stock Exchange.

WASHINGTON

Court to review $2.5B Exxon award

Eighteen years after the worst oil spill in U.S. history, its victims could have a $2.5-billion judgment wrested away from them by the Supreme Court. A federal appeals court had already cut in half the $5-billion punitive damages award that a jury decided Exxon Mobil Corp. should pay for the Exxon Valdez oil spill that fouled more than 1,200 miles of Alaskan coastline in 1989. The justices said Monday they would consider whether Exxon Mobil, which already has paid $3.4-billion in cleanup costs and other penalties, should face any punitive damages at all. The money is "barely more than three weeks of Exxon's net profits," the plaintiffs' lawyers said in urging the court to turn down the case.

T-bill rates mixed

Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills were mixed in Monday's auction with rates on three-month bills rising while six-month bills dropped to the lowest level in two years. The Treasury Department auctioned $20-billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 3.920 percent, up from 3.900 percent last week. Another $18-billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 3.945 percent, down from 3.990 percent last week.

[Last modified October 30, 2007, 00:22:25]