Fla. Places Vanguard Fire & Casualty Under State Control

Maitland, Fla.-based insurance company Vanguard Fire & Casualty Co. agreed to be placed under state control last Friday, following its announcement earlier this month that it wouldn’t continue writing policies in Florida.

Leon County Circuit Judge Terry Lewis ordered the company into receivership and appointed the Department of Financial Services as receiver. Vanguard has about 75,000 homeowners policies in the state. It stopped writing new policies earlier this month and announced it would not renew existing coverage after April 19.

The state agency will continue to process and pay claims and will assist consumers who may need help finding new policies, state Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink said in a statement released Friday.

Company officials didn’t answer calls after business hours
Friday.
___

On the Net:

DFS: www.floridainsurancereceiver.org

Vanguard: www.vanguardfc.com