Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty announced on Feb. 19 that the Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) has filed an administrative complaint on a non-emergency basis seeking to suspend the certificates of authority of the Allstate Companies to write new insurance policies in Florida.
The complaint is based in part on Allstate’s failure to provide witnesses and documents as subpoenaed by the OIR, falsely labeling subpoenaed documents as trade secret and falsely certifying its rate filings.
Allstate was to have provided all appropriate company documents related to the OIR’s investigation at or before a Jan. 15 hearing. The insurer has not delivered all documents requested by the subpoenas and is maintaining claims of privilege to some of the documents.
The OIR has been asking for documents about Allstate’s reinsurance program, its relationships with risk modeling companies, insurance rating organizations and insurance trade associations. The subpoenas also required appropriate witnesses to appear at the January hearing to be able to discuss issues that were subjects of the subpoenas.
Filing the complaint is required under Florida law as part of the process that began on Jan. 17 when McCarty suspended Allstate from writing any new business in the state. Allstate is expected to request an administrative hearing on the OIR’s complaint. If requested, a hearing would be held at the Division of Administrative Hearings (DOAH).
An administrative law judge will hear the evidence and then make findings of fact. McCarty could then issue a Final Order, which may include a suspension of Allstate’s certificates of authority. The insurer could then appeal to the First District Court of Appeal.
The DOAH hearing is separate from the ongoing matter that Allstate initiated in the First District Court of Appeal (DCA) by filing its Jan. 17 notice of appeal of the commissioner’s suspension. That matter is still proceeding in the DCA.
The Allstate suspension was the first time the OIR had suspended a company for failure to “freely” provide documents as required by Florida law.
