Orlando Sentinel
May 22, 2016 TALLAHASSEE — Insurance regulators are preparing for an appeals-court battle with State Farm Florida after a circuit judge blocked the release of information about the company’s property-insurance policies.
The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation filed a notice of appeal last week after Leon Circuit Judge James Hankinson prevented the release of the information, which State Farm argued was a “trade secret” protected from public disclosure.
Hankinson wrote that a disputed issue is “whether QUASR data has value. The court finds that there is value to the QUASR data. … Accordingly, plaintiff (State Farm) has shown, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the QUASR data meets the definition of trade secret.”
The notice of appeal filed Thursday in the 1st District Court of Appeal does not detail the arguments that the Office of Insurance Regulation will pursue in trying to overturn Hankinson’s ruling.
But in a memorandum filed March 4 in circuit court, the Office of Insurance Regulation said it uses the data to create a “comprehensive report” based on submissions from all insurers.
