In the continuing battle between the state of Florida and Allstate Insurance Company over the production of the secret McKinsey documents, Governor, Charlie Crist, was quoted in Florida’s Sun Sentinel newspaper as saying that, in his opinion, Allstate is gouging Florida residents.

Ongoing feud

The ongoing feud between the two began over a state investigation of Florida insurers whom regulators think are acting together to raise insurance rates in the state. Florida had passed legislation that basically provided insurance companies with more business and they were then supposed to pass that savings onto consumers. However, while insurance companies did lower their rates initially, they soon sought to increase them to levels higher than where they started.

When Florida began its investigation, Allstate was asked to produce a number of documents. However, it had only produced a fraction of those by the January 2008 due date. Allstate lawyers showed up at the production meeting, but didn’t have all the documents. Instead, they presented the state with over 50 pages of objections to the subpoena. It was at that point that Florida’s Insurance Commissioner, Kevin McCarty, suspended Allstate from writing any new business in the state.

In a press release following the suspension, McCarty expressed his frustration with the insurer:

Allstate has continued to do everything it can to keep from providing the documents requested in the subpoenas . . . , so now I am doing everything within my power to ensure that the documents are produced. They keep insisting that they are working to produce the documents, but the fact remains that all of the documents were due last Tuesday at the hearing, and they were not there. I also am frustrated that Allstate keeps trying to tell us which documents are relevant to our investigation. (www.floir.com)

Governor backs McCarty

Governor Crist has wholeheartedly backed McCarty in his bold move to suspend Allstate. In a statement on his website, www.flgov.com, the Governor said, “I applaud Commissioner McCarty for sending a clear message to Allstate Companies and protecting Florida’s consumers. It is clear to me that Allstate must have something to hide if they are unwilling to comply with the Commissioner’s requests. This type of behavior is an unconscionable disregard for this process and their customers.”

Next steps

While Florida’s First District Court of Appeal lifted a temporary ban on Allstate's ability to sell insurance in Florida, McCarty says that the ruling was only a minor setback. According to a press release on his website, McCarty said, "The stay was only a minor setback. Everyone needs to keep in mind that the full appeal is still pending before the court. Florida consumers deserve to know what is in the documents that Allstate is so aggressively guarding, and my office is determined to get them."