The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation filed papers todayasking an appeals court to reinstate its order suspending AllstateCompanies from doing business in the state.

The First District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee on Fridaytemporarily stayed a suspension order issued by InsuranceCommissioner Kevin McCarty after the Northbrook, Ill.-based insurerrefused to supply material he demanded in a subpoena.

Mr. McCarty asked for a wide range of documents andcommunications concerning the company's rate setting practices and"improper claims handling processes."

The court granted the temporary injunction, saying thecommissioner's order did not mention facts sufficient todemonstrate an imminent threat of irreparable harm to the publicinterest.

OIR in its motion argued that when the legislature revised thestate's insurance law last year it considered a willful violationof the law such as failing to comply with a subpoena was "animmediate threat to the health, safety and welfare" of stateresidents.

Allstate's failure to provide the requested documents, OIRcontended, is a crime under Florida law and "further evidenced acontinuing attempt by [Allstate] to improperly subvert, manipulateand undermine the regulatory process. There can be no clearerthreat to the safety and welfare of the public than a continuingwillful violation of the law."

Mr. McCarty said in a statement that the insurer "has continuedto do everything it can to keep from providing the documentsrequested in the subpoenas sent by my office Oct. 16, so now I amdoing everything within my power to ensure that the documents areproduced."

"They keep insisting that they are working to produce thedocuments, but the fact remains that all of the documents were duelast Tuesday at the hearing, and they were not there. I also amfrustrated that Allstate keeps trying to tell us which documentsare relevant to our investigation."

Commissioner McCarty announced Wednesday that he was suspendingAllstate from writing new auto business in Florida and thenextended the suspension Thursday to keep Allstate from writing anynew business in the state.

"Florida consumers deserve to know what is in the documents thatAllstate is so aggressively guarding, and my office is determinedto get them," he said.

Last week the commissioner abruptly halted a scheduled two-dayhearing he called Allstate executives to attend.

He said he did so because company representatives were notprepared to answer questions about the documents that had not beenprovided and the OIR received 51 pages of objections to thesubpoenas.

Allstate has said it continues to provide information to thecommissioner, but his motion papers responded that much of what thecompany provided included items such as prior rate filings, whichhe already had, documents with missing pages and prior rate filings"falsely marked as 'Trade Secret.'"

Allstate has argued that the commissioner has been on a fishingexpedition and had issued the suspension as a "punitive stick." Theorder, the company said, had harmed its agents' livelihoods,damaged its reputation and would result in higher insurance pricesif the carrier is driven from the state.