Florida class-action case takes aim at Citizens’ reinspection program

Thousands of Florida homeowners buffeted by higher windstorm premiums have sued state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp. to recover potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in “back-door” rate increases driven by “arbitrary” reinspections of their residences.

The proposed class-action lawsuit, filed in Broward Circuit Wednesday, aims to halt Citizens’ reinspection program, claiming it has illegally stripped discounts from homeowners who had earned them under a 2007 inspection program approved by the Florida Legislature. Their original inspections were supposed to be valid for five years.

But in 2010, Citizens violated the due-process rights of homeowners, who had submitted official inspection forms, by arbitrarily reinspecting their properties to boost lost revenue that the agency could not generate lawfully through premium hikes, the suit said.

Lawyers who filed the suit, whose class representative is a Broward homeowner, said Citizens violated the due-process rights of its policyholders, costing each higher premiums averaging upwards of $1,000 — and possibly more — a year.

The collective cost to homeowners throughout Florida exceeds more than $100 million, said attorney Todd Stabinksi, whose Miami law firm, Stabinksi & Funt, filed the suit with Farmer, Jaffe of Fort Lauderdale and Kula & Samson of Aventura. They gathered Thursday for a press conference outside the West Broward County Courthouse in Plantation.

“Citizens got the benefit of lowering their risks, but Citizens’ policyholders did not get the benefit of lower premiums,” Stabinski said. “It should have been a mutually beneficial bargain.”

Consumer advocates have accused Citizens of using the reinspection program to impose “massive” rate hikes on homeowners. Citizens has denied the charge, saying that it is simply trying to get accurate information about the homes it insures.

“Since at least 2010, Citizens has used a wind mitigation reinspection program to systemtically deprive policy holders of legitimate wind mitigation credits,” said a nonprofit group, Florida Association for Insurance Reform, which praised the legal action.

A spokesperson for Citizens said the company has been operating under the law, and that the reinspections came after regulators changed the mitigation criteria. “Our position is Citizens’ reinspections were conducted under statutory authority afforded any insurer to verify, at the insurer’s expense, the accuracy of inspection reports submitted for a mitigation discount,” said spokesman Michael Peltier.

Discontent has been widespread among Citizens’ policyholders, who spent large sums of money on roof, window and other upgrades to earn windstorm mitigation discounts while protecting their homes against potential hurricane damage. In response, Citizens unveiled major changes to its home reinspection program last August, after consumers expressed outrage over media reports about a staggering $137 million in premium increases generated by the unpopular program.

Under its new plans, homeowners who lose insurance discounts because of a reinspection can receive a second inspection free of charge. They will have new tools to dispute the findings of the first reinspection. That decision could impact more than 200,000 property owners, who have already seen their premiums go up by an average of about $800 after the initial reinspection.

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Miami-Dade mayor says partnerships, technology will move county forward

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez will deliver his annual speech to the county Thursday, laying out his goals for revving up the local economy, promoting regional cooperation and improving a public transportation system that is, at best, inadequate.

In a wide-ranging interview previewing his state-of-the-county speech, Gimenez told The Miami Herald that he is optimistic about the county’s future, citing improved economic indicators and a record year for business at Miami International Airport and PortMiami, two major economic engines.

“I think we’re a hot commodity, and people are starting to see our potential,” he said. “We just need to keep our eye on the ball.”

Unlike his first speech a year ago, the political pressure is off this time for Gimenez, who in August was elected to his first full term in office. His first year amounted to a red-shirt season, completing the term of former Mayor Carlos Alvarez, who was ousted in a 2011 recall.

In Thursday’s speech, to be delivered at Liberty City’s Joseph Caleb Center, Gimenez will announce the creation of an advisory group to study rising property-insurance rates and make recommendations about how to lobby state lawmakers on the issue. The Florida Legislature regulates Citizens Property Insurance, the state’s insurer of last resort, which recently increased homeowners’ insurance rates and scaled back coverage.

“We’re going to look at why our people here are getting slammed,” Gimenez said.

A similar task force made recommendations last month to improve the county elections process. The county, however, generally has more control over elections than over property insurance.

The mayor will also promote an initiative — begun with Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho and already underway — to prevent youth violence. And he will tout a new partnership announced Wednesday in which the county will take part in technology giant IBM’s Smart cities program, which lets local governments test and use software to better analyze municipal data.

Among his successes in office, Gimenez will mention streamlining permitting at some county agencies — in some cases by three months, he said — posting employee salaries online and providing internships in his office to college students.

Looking to spur entrepreneurship and create local jobs, Gimenez’s administration also has committed $1 million in funding over four years to Launch Pad, in conjunction with the University of Miami. Launch Pad is a public/private partnership that introduces young technology businesses to each other to help them grow.

In his speech, the mayor will also throw his support behind Endeavor, a global nonprofit that works to accelerate entrepreneurship in metropolitan areas. The organization plans to set up shop in Miami after receiving a $2 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Taking the long view, Gimenez said he hopes to make it easier for commuters to take public transportation between Miami Beach and the mainland and from Kendall to the urban core. The mayor said he doesn’t have any specific plans yet — or money to finance them — but said that clogged streets are getting in the way of residents’ productivity.

By way of example, Gimenez said he left County Hall in downtown Miami at 5 p.m. on a recent afternoon for a 6:30 p.m. event at the Hammocks, in West Kendall.

“I didn’t make it,” he said. “I can’t imagine your having to do that every day. We’re wasting time. We’re spending money. We’re spending gas.”

For those and other big-ticket improvements, including looming, extensive water-and-sewer piping that will have to be replaced soon because it is so antiquated, Gimenez said Miami-Dade won’t be able to count on much state or federal financial aid. Instead, there will be some water-rate hikes in coming years, he said, and future transportation projects might be partnerships involving heavy private-sector investments.

“More and more, it’s likely that we’re going to have to do these things ourselves,” he said.

Better than going at it alone, Gimenez said, would be teaming up with counties with similar issues to share ideas and work together for funding and state support. To that end, Gimenez had dinner last year in St. Petersburg with the mayors of Jacksonville, Orlando and Tampa. He also has hosted the mayors of Broward and Palm Beach counties to brainstorm ways to work together.

“People have been very good and very successful at dividing us, and we’ve done that to ourselves,” Gimenez said. “We should have a lot more in common than we have differences.”

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Pope Benedict XVI Sends Out Final Tweet

He was the first pope to have a Twitter account, and on Feb. 28, Pope Benedict XVI sent out his final tweet to his 1.5 million followers proceeding his final public address to 150,000 in St. Peter's Square in Rome, Italy. So, what were his final words under 140 characters?

The pope wrote on Thursday: "Thank you for your love and support. May you always experience the joy that comes from putting Christ at the centre of your lives."

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Pope Benedict XVI announced earlier this month that he would be stepping down, making him the first living pope to resign in 598 years. Elected in 2005 after the death of Pope John Paul II at age 84, Benedict, 85, said from the onset of his papacy that he anticipated a short reign as the 265th leader of the Catholic Church.

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Pope Benedict addressed the crowds in the small Italian town Castel Gandolfo for the final time on Thursday, sending his blessings to all.

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Still no strip clubs for 'Big Daddy' boss: judge

No lap dances for you!

A former strip club impresario who made his hooker dancers call him "Big Daddy" had a big disappointment today -- a Manhattan judge slapped down his bid to be sprung early from probation, effectively barring him from even setting foot inside a wiggle joint for another two years.

Lou Posner is a model probationer -- but officials still need to keep him on a short leash, a judge ruled.

Probation supervision is the only way the courts can be sure that Posner stays away from the adult entertainment business, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus ruled.

Steven Hirsch

Louis (Big Lou) Posner outside of court.

Under the terms of his probation, Posner can't run a strip joint or even go to one.

"The court's directive excluding defendant from the many facets of the 'adult entertainment' industry is only enforceable as long as defendant remains on probation," the judge wrote.

"I'm disappointed," Posner said as he left court, griping that keeping him on probation is a waste of taxpayers money. Posner has been working as a commercial real estate broker.

Posner had pleaded guilty in a 2010 no-jail deal, admitting to pimping women out of his "Big Daddy Lou's Hot Lap Dance Club on W. 38th St. His probation expires in April, 2015.

A now-disbarred lawyer, he'd repped himself in the failed probation application.

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Don’t get too personal on LinkedIn

Have you ever received a request to connect on LinkedIn from someone you didn’t know or couldn’t remember?

A few weeks ago, Josh Turner encountered this situation. The online request to connect came from a businessman on the opposite coast of the United States. It came with a short introduction that ended with “Let’s go Blues!” a reference to Turner’s favorite hockey team in St. Louis that he had mentioned in his profile. “It was a personal connection … that’s building rapport.”

LinkedIn is known for being the professional social network where members expect you to keep buttoned-down behavior and network online like you would at a business event. With more than 200 million registered users, the site facilitates interaction as a way to boost your stature, gain a potential customer or rub elbows with a future boss.

But unlike most other social networking sites, LinkedIn is all about business — and you need to take special care that you act accordingly. As in any workplace, the right amount of personal information sharing could be the foot in the door, say experts. The wrong amount could slam it closed.

“Anyone in business needs a professional online presence,’’ says Vanessa McGovern, the VP of Business Development for the Global Institute for Travel Entrepreneurs and a consultant to business owners on how to use LinkedIn. But they should also heed LinkedIn etiquette or risk sending the wrong messages.

One of the biggest mistakes, McGovern says is getting too personal — or not personal enough.

Sending a request to connect blindly equates to cold calling and likely will lead nowhere. Instead, it should come with a personal note, an explanation of who you are, where you met, or how the connection can benefit both parties, McGovern explains.

Your profile should get a little personal, too, she says. “Talk about yourself in the first person and add a personal flair — your goals, your passion … make yourself seem human.”

Beyond that, keep your LinkedIn posts, invitations, comments and photos professional, McGovern says.

If you had a hard day at the office or your child just won an award, you may want to share it with your personal network elsewhere — but not on LinkedIn.

“This is not Facebook. Only share what you would share at a professional networking event,” she says.

Another etiquette pitfall on LinkedIn is the hit and run — making a connection and not following up.

At least once a week, Ari Rollnick, a principal in kabookaboo, an integrated marketing agency in Coral Gables, gets a request to connect with someone on LinkedIn that he has never met or heard of before. The person will have no connections in common and share no information about why they want to build a rapport.

“I won’t accept. That’s a lost opportunity for them,” Rollnick says.

He approaches it differently. When Rollnick graduated from Emory with an MBA in 2001, he had a good idea that his classmates would excel in the business world. Now, Rollnick wanted to find out just where they went and reestablish a connection.

With a few clicks, he tracked down dozens of them on LinkedIn, requested a connection, and was back on their radar. Then came the follow-up — letting them know through emails, phone calls and posts that he was creating a two-way street for business exchange. “Rather than make that connection and disappearing , I let them know I wanted to open the door to conversation.”

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Two charged with taking protected live sharks from the Keys

For the second time in weeks, federal prosecutors have ordered the arrest of people for illegally taking live sharks out of the Florida Keys.

Two officials of Idaho Aquarium Inc. in Boise were indicted on federal charges of conspiracy and illegally purchasing four spotted eagle rays and two lemon sharks, all protected species and all from Keys waters.

Ammon Covino, 39, president of Idaho Aquarium, and corporate secretary Christopher Conk, 40, were arraigned late last week in Idaho and ordered to appear in U.S. District Court in Key West on March 15.

The Idaho Aquarium is a display facility covering 10,000 square feet operating in a converted Boise warehouse. Listed as a nonprofit educational center, the aquarium opened in late 2011. It claims to offer "over 250 different species of animals and marine life" for the $9 adult admission fee.

The indictment from November was unsealed this month.

On Feb. 7, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami unsealed a separate indictment against two Broward County aquarium suppliers. They were charged with conspiracy to acquire and resell juvenile nurse sharks without a required permit, and angelfish larger than the maximum size allowed. Those fish from the Keys allegedly were sold to a Michigan buyer.

"While both cases relate to the marine living resources of the Florida Keys and involve violations of the Lacey Act, predicated in part on [Florida law], there is no public record material to suggest there is any other relationship between the cases," said Alicia Valle, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office.

In the indictment against Idaho Aquarium and its officials, prosecutor Thomas Watts-Fitzgerald wrote that the defendants knowingly conspired with fish collectors in the Keys to have the rays and sharks captured without permits and shipped north.

After being offered $1,250 for each live eagle ray, an unnamed fish collector eventually told Covino that permits needed to take the rays could not be obtained. Covino reportedly answered, "Just start doing it.... Who gives a ...".

The collector reportedly shipped three eagle rays in May 2012 and another in June 2012. All were sent to Covino at the Idaho Aquarium.

A second unnamed collector reportedly was solicited by Conk in June for two lemon sharks. The collector said no capture permits for lemon sharks are being issued so "the transaction would have to be conducted on the 'down low,' " the indictment says.

In a later conversation, Covino is accused of saying the lack of permits for the lemon sharks was "no big deal." The lemon sharks were purchased for $650 each and sent to Idaho in October.

Neither collector was named in the indictment.

According to the U.S. District Court documents, Covino and Conk could receive prison terms of up to five years on each of four counts.

The Idaho Aquarium could be fined $500,000. The government is seeking to seize Conk's 2005 Ford pickup truck, reportedly used to transport the fish from an airport.

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Cameron Diaz Topless for Interview Russia Magazine

Cameron Diaz is topless at age 40 for the recent issue of Russia's Interview magazine, but what else would you expect from the actress since her interview is being done by supermodel and guest editor Naomi Campbell?

On her cover, the Bad Teacher star is seen wearing nothing but a leather skirt, and even that isn't covering much. Then there's her second cover that will have you asking yourself: Is that David Bowie?

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The actress clearly has no problem with shoots such as these, given her Nov. 2012 quotes to the Sunday Times. "I think every woman does want to be objectified. There's a little part of you at all times that hopes to be somewhat objectified, and I think it’s healthy," she told the UK-based paper. "I'm not some young girl with the photographer going, 'Will you take your clothes off?' I'm like [mimes stripping], 'How does this look?' ... They're like, 'Today we're not going to put anything other than bras and heels on you, and I'm like, 'These heels are not high enough.'"

Diaz is featured in the publication in support of her upcoming Coen brothers film Gambit. The film, also starring Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci, is about an art curator who decides to seek revenge on his abusive boss by conning him into buying a fake Monet, but his plan requires the help of an eccentric and unpredictable Texas rodeo queen.

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What do you think of Diaz's topless cover: sexy or too over the top?

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Jury in alleged Zumba prostitution case can see some explicit images: judge

REUTERS

Accused madame Alexis Wright 29, of Wells, Maine is pictured during an arraignment hearing at Cumberland County Superior Court.

ALFRED, Maine — A Maine judge says she's not going to let prosecutors introduce almost 600 sexually explicit images at the trial of a man charged with helping a fitness instructor run a prostitution business from her Zumba studio.

But Judge Nancy Mills said Wednesday she will allow prosecutors to show jurors in the trial of Mark Strong Sr. some of the images, but not all 577 of them. He's on trial on charges of promoting prostitution.

The defense says Strong had an affair with Alexis Wright and helped her launch her dance studio in Kennebunk by co-signing for her lease but knew nothing about allegations of prostitution.

Prosecutors say the images show Strong knew about the prostitution.

Both Strong and Wright have pleaded not guilty. She'll be tried later.

Meanwhile, a detective is testifying Wednesday about text messages.

Yesterday, the judge refused to throw out charges against Strong.

Strong's lawyers asked the judge to punish prosecutors for repeatedly missing deadlines for turning over discovery materials, even as more than 100 pages of police reports, notes, videos and audio recordings were provided to the defense on Tuesday.

"They're beyond discovery violations. They're due process violations," defense lawyer Tina Nadeau told Justice Nancy Mills. "Enough is enough."

But Mills said there were other less-drastic remedies that include delaying testimony to give the defense more time to review the materials and giving special instructions to jurors.

Strong's trial has been marked by delays caused by motions and appeals. At one point, jury selection was delayed by more than three weeks while prosecutors sought to reinstate 46 invasion-of-privacy counts that the judge dismissed.

The remaining 13 counts against Strong focus on promotion of prostitution with dance instructor Alexis Wright. Both pleaded not guilty.

On Tuesday, a state police investigator specializing in cellphone records testified that Wright and Strong were in constant contact, with 25,111 phone calls, texts and data transfers between the two of them from January 2010 to February 2012.

A postal inspector also testified that Wright sent a number of packages to Strong.

The defense contends Kennebunk police targeted the 57-year-old Strong, who held a private investigator's license, because he was conducting an investigation into unprofessional conduct by Kennebunk officers.

On Tuesday, Mills ordered prosecutors to give Strong's lawyers a police file involving a Kennebunk officer involved in a shooting. Previously, prosecutors had to turn over a written reprimand against the lead investigator, who had an affair with her boss.

The defense is expected to mine the material to try to discredit investigators.

Still up in the air was how many pornographic images jurors would see. The judge had yet to rule on a request to prune back the 577 images prosecutors wanted to introduce.

The images were found on Strong's computer, and prosecutors contend they show Strong knew Wright was working as a prostitute. The defense argued that pornography possession isn't a crime and the photos could "horrify" jurors and make them biased against Strong.

The prostitution scandal attracted international attention last year after it was reported that Wright had ledgers indicating she made $150,000 over 18 months and had more than 150 clients.

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Coral Gables native Martin Zweig, Wall Street wiz, dies in Florida

A decade before he foresaw the 1987 stock market crash, Coral Gables native Marty Zweig was already considered a Wall Street wizard.

Renown business journalist Dan Dorfman called him “the country’s hottest investment adviser” in 1981, his picture appeared on the cover of Money Magazine in 1982, and he was frequent guest on the PBS financial show Wall Street Week.

Wall Street Week

He wrote two best-selling books: Winning on Wall Street, in 1986, and Winning with New IRAs, in 1987.

On Oct. 19 that year, just as Zweig had predicted three days earlier on Wall Street Week, the market plummeted 23 percent.

Zweig, whose three-story Pierre Hotel penthouse is one of New York City’s most lavish residences, died Feb. 18 at another of his homes, on South Florida’s Fisher Island. He was 70. Zweig had been treated for cancer, and underwent a liver transplant in 2010 with tissue from his younger son.

Born Martin Edward Zweig on July 2, 1942, in Cleveland, he spent his formative years growing up in Coral Gables where he was known as Marty Gateman after his widowed mother remarried.

He attended Coral Gables Elementary and Ponce de Leon Junior High schools, was a Coral Gables High School varsity basketball player and track star — class of 1960 — and 2001 Cavalier Hall of Famer.

Childhood friend Richard B. Bermont, a Miami financial adviser, remembered Zweig as a great poker player even in high school, “pretty much a jokester, and the ladies loved him.’’

He legally changed his last name back to Zweig when he was 21, after his mother and Dr. Gateman divorced, said former wife Mollie Friedman.

Zweig wrote that his interest in financial began when the 1948 Cleveland Indians were playing in the World Series.

“I was the kid who knew the most about the team and had a vague idea about what batting averages mean. I had begun to love numbers. Perhaps this was a tip-off that I’d later graduate to the market.’’

He earned a bachelor’s in economics from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1964, later an M.B.A. from the University of Miami and a doctorate in finance from Michigan State University.

In 1984, Zweig joined with stock picker Joe DiMenna, with whom he co-founded Zweig-DiMenna Partners, their first long/short hedge fund.

Zweig also created two closed-end funds traded on the New York Stock Exchange, according to his corporate biography: The Zweig Fund in 1986 and The Zweig Total Return Fund in 1988.

In his first book, he wrote: “When playing the market, remember you must deal with probabilities, employ sensible strategies to limit risk, and get aggressive only when conditions warrant.’’

He was as quirky in his private life as he was serious about investing. Stan Smith, a Fisher Island friend, said that last year, Zweig installed a “banana yellow’’ 1934 Packard convertible in his living room.

Zweig’s memorabilia collection includes the dress Marilyn Monroe wore to sing “Happy Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy in 1962, a pair of JFK’s pajamas, suits The Beatles wore, Super Bowl rings, Heisman Trophies, Oscar statuettes and Gold Records; one of the Harley-Davidson Hydra-Glide motorcycles that actor Peter Fonda rode in the film “Easy Rider;” an outfit that Jimi Hendrix wore in concert; and the booking sheet from one of Al Capone’s arrests, and a letter written by baseball legend Mickey Mantle describing a sexual encounter at Yankee Stadium.

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Bagpipes and kilts come to South Florida on Saturday

As tradition calls for it, burly male competitors will be on hand to throw large, heavy wooden poles, some as far as 20 feet.

But it’s not just the athletics that will keep fans of Southeast Florida’s 30th annual Scottish Festival entertained. Expect to hear Charlie Zahm’s Celtic music, Albannach band playing the drums and blowing bagpipes, and men wearing the kilts of their clan. “It’s very important for the people to know that the Scottish culture in this community is not exclusive,” said Nigel MacDonald, one of the founders of the festival. “It’s for everyone — the music, dancing and piping is enjoyed by everyone.”

More than 4,000 are expected to fill Fort Lauderdale’s Snyder Park for the festival, which began three years ago in Key Biscayne.

“In Scotland there are games like this in every town, but we didn’t have any here and we had to go to other games in Orlando, Atlanta or the Carolinas,” said MacDonald.

Steve Rogers of Plantation hasn’t missed a festival in the last 12 years. He fell in love with the culture and even learned to play the bagpipes.

“At first I wasn’t involved, but after going a couple of times, I learned to play the bagpipes,” said Rogers, whose wife also got involved in the Scottish culture by playing the drums. “It turned out to be a very good decision. I participate in a lot of things that normally I wouldn’t be able to do.”

Among the activities that caught his attention was the caber toss, a traditional Scottish athletic event where men throw a large wooden pole that’s almost 20-feet long and weighing about 175 pounds.

Besides the caber toss, strong men compete in such age-old events as the hammer throw and the shot put.

These events come from the Highland games which are held throughout the year in Scotland and other countries as a way of celebrating Scottish and Celtic heritage.

Plenty of Scottish merchandise and food will be on sale, including Scottish eggs, (a plate of hard-boiled eggs wrapped in sausage meat, coated in breadcrumbs and deep-fried); sticky toffee, (a moist sponge cake made with finely chopped prunes); clootie dumplings, (a traditional dessert pudding made of breadcrumbs, dried fruit and spice) and of course, traditional Scottish beer.

Although there is no dress code, many of the men will be dressed in traditional kilts with patterns of their clan’s tartan. The different Scottish clans and societies will also set up displays to welcome members and educate people about their roots.

“There are the MacDonalds, the Campbells, the Ritchies and others,” said MacDonald. “We have all these families and set up tents where people who are associated, or not associated, can learn about our heritage.”

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