State Farm Rate Appeal Rejected
By: David Yon
On Monday, July 20, 2009, the First District Court of Appeal affirmed the Final Order of the Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) disapproving State Farm’s rate filing. State Farm’s filing had initially requested an increase of 47.1 percent for its homeowners line of business. When OIR issued a notice of intent to disapprove the filing, State Farm requested a hearing before an administrative law judge (ALJ).
The hearing was held October 27-30, 2008. During the hearing State Farm argued it should be entitled to an increase of 67.0% based on the evidence before the ALJ. The ALJ found in favor of OIR’s decision to reject the requested increase and issued a recommended order on December 12, 2008 recommending that OIR reject the proposed increase. The ALJ concluded that State Farm did not show by a preponderance of the evidence that either the indicated rate or requested rate in the rate filing was not excessive, inadequate, or unfairly discriminatory. OIR responded by issuing a final order on January 12, 2009. State Farm then appealed OIR’s final order and requested the case be expedited. The First DCA affirmed OIR’s order without issuing a written opinion.