Allstate's "Good Hands" Appear to be Unclean

On January 16, 2008, Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty abruptly stopped a hearing before it was completed after becoming frustrated with what he apparently perceived as Allstate purposefully not complying with his requests for documents. The hearing was part of the state's investigation into why insurance companies including Allstate had sought to increase rates by almost 42%. Allstate refused to provide all of the documents requested claiming they were either confidential trade secrets and or not relevant to the inquiry. Many of us that represent clients in personal injury lawsuits against Allstate and its insured's are used to similar stalling tactics. Often the tactic works in Allstate's favor. This time it seems to have backfired on them.

Insurance Commissioner McCarty was so irritated with Allstate's failure to comply that he suspended the various Allstate companies' right to sell new insurance policies in the state of Florida until they produce the documents requested. Initially Allstate ignored the request and appealed the Commissioner's decision to the 1st District Court of Appeals. The appellate court gave Allstate a reprieve from handing over the documents until it decided whether the Insurance Commissioner had the authority to order the production of the documents. On April 4, 2008, the court sided with the Insurance Commissioner. According to some media outlets, under the court's current order, Allstate has until April 14, 2008 to produce the documents. Allstate itself has announced it has until April 19, 2008 to decide how it will proceed.

If History serves as any predictor of future conduct, then I would not count on Allstate timely producing the documents requested. In typical Allstate fashion, they flooded the public domain with 150,000 pages of documents by posting them on their website. Allstate had previously produced over 400,000 pages of documents. It has used the sheer volume of documents produced as a smokescreen to suggest that it is fully cooperating with the state to produce the documents requested. The response attempts to portray Allstate as a victim. These stalling tactics and attempts to demonize anyone asking them for unflattering information often works in personal injury lawsuits because it usually takes many years for a civil lawsuit to make it through the appellate process. Allstate simply wears out its opponents. However, the appellate process in this instance was substantially shorter. The first round of Appeals was over in less than three months. Furthermore, the state of Florida is not your typical Allstate opponent. The state has the financial resources to match Allstate dollar for dollar.

As Commissioner McCarty stated, "They have created their own situation. They have blatantly and flagrantly ignored the law. They did not take this process seriously. The only effective and rational response was a suspension of business." One has to wonder, If Allstate has clean hands, why not produce the documents for inspection instead of wasting the state of Florida's time and money fighting the subpeona.

Scott Distasio
Tampa Personal Injury Lawyer
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