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State Farm Florida's Property Rate Hike Rejected

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The Associated Press

Published: January 12, 2009

Updated: 01/12/2009 09:13 pm

TALLAHASSEE - The state insurance commissioner Monday again denied State Farm Florida's proposed average 47.1 percent rate increase for homeowner coverage against hurricanes and other property losses.

Commissioner Kevin McCarty previously denied the increase but State Farm, Florida's second-largest property insurer, appealed. An administrative law judge also denied the increase last month, sending the matter back to McCarty.

The Florida-only affiliate of Bloomington, Ill.-based State Farm Insurance Co. now has 30 days to take the case to the 1st District Court of Appeal.

"I'm sure we'll look very strongly at that option," said State Farm Florida spokesman Chris Neal from the company's Winter Haven headquarters. "Time is not our friend right now."

Neal said the company also plans to take "a long hard look at how we operate" in Florida due to its deteriorating financial condition. The company already has filed a notice that it intends to reduce its exposure to about 675,000 policies, according to McCarty's office. It now has about 845,000 policies.

That's second to the state-created Citizens Property Insurance Corp., which has slightly more than 1 million policies.

State Farm Florida needs the steep rate increase to meet obligations to its customers even without a major catastrophe, said Justin Glover, another company spokesman.

Glover noted that last week, a state panel recommended rate increases for Citizens because it's not taking in enough premium dollars to cover claims after a hurricane.

"Private insurers find themselves in even a more difficult spot in that they cannot go back to taxpayers after the fact," Glover said.

Administrative Law Judge Daniel Manry, though, ruled State Farm Florida failed to show the increase "is not excessive, inadequate or unfairly discriminatory."

McCarty said Manry's decision "will further help us in our endeavors to protect Florida consumers from unwarranted rate increases."

In 2007, McCarty and State Farm Florida agreed on a 9 percent rate reduction. The company received a 52.8 percent increase in 2006.

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