On January 18, 2008 Florida's First District Court of Appeal announced that it was setting aside a January 17 order of the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. The OIR order temporarily suspended the authority of Allstate and its subsidiaries to issue and collect Premiums for new Automobile Insurance Policies in Florida.
The OIR order was issued as a sanction for Allstate's failure to produce documents subpoenaed by the OIR for a Hearing on Allstate's Insurance conduct in charging higher Premiums, canceling some Homeowner's and other Property Insurance Coverages, and nonrenewing others. (Rather, Allstate and its subsidiaries used the 60 days between the time the subpoenas were served and the date of the scheduled Hearing to prepare 51 pages of objections, which they apparently filed on the day of the Hearing.)
Allstate and its subsidiaries immediately filed an appeal. The appeal resulted in the Florida appellate court's order.
The Florida Court's ruling was more limited than newspapers have reported. Here is the entire text of it, as the ruling appears on the Online Docket:
Appellants' emergency motion for immediate relief from immediate final order suspending licenses filed January 17, 2008, is granted. The January 17, 2008, Immediate Final Order issued by the Office of Insurance Regulation is stayed pending further order of this court. Appellee shall show cause within 10 days of the date of this order why the stay should not remain in effect pending a final disposition on the merits of the appeal.
Obviously, much more to come. And soon.
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