ELEVENTH CIRCUIT COURT AFFIRMS JUDGMENT IN LAWSUIT INVOLVING STATE-SUBSIDIZED REINSURANCE
Allstate Floridian won an appeal in a case alleging that it failed to pass on the savings it enjoyed from taxpayer-subsidized reinsurance. In 2007, Florida’s legislature passed a law making the subsidized reinsurance available to Florida insurers at rates lower than those offered in the private market. Insurers like Allstate were supposed to pass those savings onto consumers. The plaintiff brought a putative class action against Allstate arising from the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation’s determination that Allstate had charged excessive premium rates. The rates had been filed with the Office, but were later determined to be excessive. The trial court dismissed the putative class action, finding all four claims asserted were barred by the filed rate doctrine, but also finding that each claim failed in its own right to state legally sufficient claims for various reasons. However, on appeal, plaintiffs only briefed and argued the filed rate issue, and not the other several reasons the district court cited in dismissing the claims. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals therefore affirmed, finding the plaintiff had abandoned the other issues that precluded reversal. Sapuppo v. Allstate Floridian Ins. Co., No. 13-11558 (11th Cir. Jan. 7, 2014).
This post written by John Pitblado.
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