On March 30, 2016, Florida’s Second Judicial Circuit (Leon County) declared that the personal and commercial residential policy data and report submitted by State Farm Florida Insurance Company (“State Farm”) to Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation (“OIR”) constitute trade secrets under Florida law and are thus immune from public disclosure under Florida’s Public Records Act. Beginning in the first quarter of 2014, State Farm began filing its Quarterly and Supplemental Reporting System (“QUASR”) reports with “trade secret” designation. On May 15, 2014, State Farm filed a declaratory action in Florida’s Second Judicial Circuit in and for Leon County, requesting that the Court declare: (1) State Farm’s QUASR data and report are trade secretes under 812.081 and 688.022, Fla. Stat.; and (2) that State Farm’s QUASR data and report are exempt from public disclosure under Florida’s Public Records Act because they are trade secret.
Continue Reading State Farm’s Dirty Little Secret: Residential Lines Reports Constitute “Trade Secrets”
Industry News
Chubb Announces Coverage For Cyberbullying
By Patrick M. McDermott on
Last week, Chubb announced that it would begin offering personal lines coverage in four states for costs related to cyberbullying. The coverage would reportedly insure costs for “psychiatric services, rest and recuperation expenses, lost salary, temporary relocation services, education expenses, professional public relations services, and cyber security consultants.”
The cyberbullying protection would cover expenses up…
MetLife Sheds SIFI Designation
By Patrick M. McDermott on
Yesterday, a federal judge in the District of Columbia rescinded a regulatory order designating MetLife as a systemically important financial institution (“SIFI”). In December 2014, MetLife joined AIG and Prudential as the only insurance companies designated as SIFIs – a designation that subjected the insurers to additional regulation by the Federal Reserve and additional capital…
Lemonade, New Insurance Start-Up, Receives Backing From Berkshire and Lloyd’s
By Patrick M. McDermott on
Lemonade, a new insurance start-up that intends to offer peer-to-peer insurance in the US, received a recent boost when it announced that several well-known insurers, including Lloyd’s of London underwriters and Berkshire Hathaway’s National Indemnity Company, have signed up to provide reinsurance backing to the new venture.
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Continue Reading Lemonade, New Insurance Start-Up, Receives Backing From Berkshire and Lloyd’s