Filed Rate Doctrine cases emphasize that people adversely affected by regulated rates have a remedy available in regulatory law.
A Florida case recently published on Westlaw (so recently published that Westlaw has not yet assigned page numbers at the time of this blog article) gives the lie to this bromide, at least in the field of insurance. The case was decided months ago.
In the case of Compass Pt. Condo. Ass'n v. Florida Office of Ins. Reg., 325 So. 3d 227 (Fla. 1st DCA 2021), Florida's most industry friendly court was confronted with exactly this issue. Compass Point filed a written complaint with OIR under the Florida Insurance Rating Law. Florida law gives OIR the power to deal with rate filings that violate statutory requirements.
Compass Point complained that Citizens' insurance rate filings did not comply with the statutory requirements of the Florida Insurance Rating Law. This administrative proceeding was initiated by a condominium association of homeowners, i.e., by the people aggrieved by the allegedly illegal rate filings, it deserves mentioning.
OIR found Compass Point's complaint legally sufficient. The OIR also "invited Citizens to correct the noncompliance" and "informed Citizens of its right" to request an administrative hearing. The Court's opinion advises that Citizens filed a petition for administrative hearing; there is no mention that Citizens did, or did not, "correct the noncompliance" with the statutory requirements for insurance rate filings.
The opinion is admittedly murky but after several readings it becomes clear that OIR opened an "administrative regulatory proceeding against Citizens." The First District also called this "a rate compliance proceeding with a regulated insurer," and "an administrative regulatory action against the license of the insurer."
Under the regulatory scheme of the Insurance Rating Law, the policyholder which filed a complaint alleging noncompliance in filed rates is not a party to the OIR proceeding. That is central to the decision in Compass Point.
It is also the source of the trap in applying the Filed Rate Doctrine to insurance.
The state government agency responsible for regulating insurance, the Florida OIR in this case, settled with the insurance company. "Under the terms of the consent order" that settled the proceeding, said the First District, Citizens dismissed its request for an administrative hearing, OIR issued a finding that Citizens complied with the Law's rate filing requirements, and "the regulatory proceeding initiated by Compass Point's complaint under section 627.371 was closed."
The Filed Rate Doctrine exists in contexts outside of insurance because the regulatory schemes are said by judges to allow remedies for rate filings. In the Compass Point case, the remedy was an empty one for the party aggrieved by insurance rate filings that did not comply with the regulatory scheme. Compass Point was not allowed to challenge the OIR settlement with Citizens.
In the end, decisions like Compass Point make it clear that knowledge of the Filed Rate Doctrine and experience with insurance regulation are both essential before addressing the issue where it is an open one, of whether to transplant the Filed Rate Doctrine that works with federally regulated utilities, to insurance rates regulated by the states.
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