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Frustrated At Allstate, Regulators Shorten Hearing

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The Associated Press

Published: January 15, 2008

Updated: 01/15/2008 06:32 pm

TALLAHASSEE - Florida insurance regulators angrily and abruptly ended a hearing with Allstate executives after just two hours Tuesday, upset that the company and its attorneys failed to fully comply with a subpoena on its property coverage rates.

Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty said he planned to bring Allstate back later when it had answers to questions the state requested. McCarty said the company faces severe sanctions, including the possibility of losing its license in Florida, if it fails to comply again.

"What have you got to hide?" McCarty asked Allstate in the opening minutes of the hearing originally scheduled for two days.

Allstate's legal team and company executives avoided regulators' questions about whether it has complied with a Florida law passed last year to provide premium relief to the state's insurance consumers, infuriating McCarty.

And while Allstate told McCarty that it planned to drop its request for double-digit rate increases on property insurance, that news did little to assuage him or Sen. Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, who is the chair of a newly created Senate panel to investigate why so few companies have complied with the insurance law.

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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