FLORIDA TO APPEAL RULING ALLOWING STATE FARM TO KEEP DATA PRIVATE

Newly appointed Florida insurance commissioner David Altmaier has decided to file an appeal against Leon County Circuit Judge James Hankinson’s May 2 ruling that allows State Farm Insurance to opt out of filing its policy-count data to a consumer comparison database. After conducting “a thorough review” of the ruling, the state Office of Insurance Regulation said an appeal will be filed by June 1. State Farm filed the lawsuit in May 2014, saying its policy data is protected from public disclosure under the state’s own definition of “trade secret.” The company had initially filed a request in 2007 to keep its data private but withdrew that filing several years later, when it had virtually ceased writing new business in Florida. Its policy count in the state fell to 361,493 at the end of 2013 from 785,475 in early 2009. However, the Illinois-based group resumed new sales in Florida and said public access to policy data gave competitors “valuable information to use to undermine State Farm’s marketing advantages.”