Florida/Georgia Personal Injury & Workers Compensation

...This is an appeal from a summary final judgment entered by the Orange County Circuit Court for American Mutual Insurance Company of Boston, the plaintiff below, upon a claim for insurance premiums. In so doing, the Circuit Court passed upon the constitutionality of Fla. Stat. §§ 627.091 and 627.291(2), F.S.A....

...In the fixing of rates under § 627.072 the factors set forth there include that which was required to be considered here, namely, the "past and prospective loss experience." *388 The insured challenges the constitutionality of the "rating" statutes involved, in two respects: (1) § 627.091 allows, but does not require, insurance companies to delegate to a licensed rating organization, the responsibility for filing with the Insurance Commissioner the company's manuals of classifications, rules and rates; (2) § 627.291(2) delegates to such a rating organization, the requirement to provide a means for complaints to be heard upon the manner that the rating system filed under the preceding § 627.091 has been applied....

...ts to which the established policies of the Legislature are to apply. [3] What the Legislature may not delegate is the power to enact laws or to declare what the law shall be or to exercise unrestricted discretion in applying the law. [4] Fla. Stat. § 627.091, F.S.A., when read in conjunction with Fla....

...Notice in such a statute is sufficient to meet the constitutional requirement of due notice without the necessity of some express notice of the provision of the law where the matter is expressly covered by statute in this respect. Actually, one of the sections of the insurance rating law which appellant attacks, namely, § 627.091, as well as the sections referred to in appellee's response as allegedly providing the required remedy by appellee, to-wit: §§ 627.181 and 627.281, all appear to refer to the initial filing and any modifications of the manuals and basic data from which the premium rates are derived....

...28,254.74 __________ Total premiums due ......................... $40,384.81 Total premiums paid ........................ 29,895.96 __________ Amount claimed to be due ....................... $10,488.85 The rates in question were promulgated pursuant to Fla. Stat. § 627.091, F.S.A....

...Stat. § 627.291(2), F.S.A., and accordingly could not contest the ratings of the Bureau in the suit. In a separate order the trial court ruled upon the constitutional issues raised by Florida Welding. The latter issues were: (1) whether Fla. Stat. §§ 627.091 and 627.291(2), F.S.A., violate Fla....

...Nor do I find that the delegation of the rate setting and initial review procedures to a private rating bureau violates Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution." As to the first constitutional issue, it is the position of Florida Welding that both Fla. Stat. § 627.091 and 627.291(2), F.S.A., constitute an unlawful delegation of legislative power in violation of Fla....

...o which the established policies of the legislature are to apply. [2] What the Legislature may not delegate is the power to enact laws, or declare what the law shall be, or to exercise unrestricted discretion in applying the law. [3] *392 Fla. Stat. § 627.091, F.S.A., when read in conjunction with Fla....

...surer must file with the Department of Financial Services (f/k/a the Department of Insurance) "every manual of classifications, rules, and rates, every rating plan, and every modification of any of the foregoing which it proposes to use." Fla. Stat. § 627.091(1)....

...However, an insurer "may satisfy its obligation to make such filings by becoming a member of, or a subscriber to, a licensed rating organization which makes such filings and by authorizing the office to accept such filings in its behalf . . ." Id. § 627.091(4)....

...In this filing the amount of the Company's requested rate changes do not vary by territories, but it asks for a flat percentage increase statewide. No effort is shown on the Company's part to utilize the experience other carriers have sustained in the classified territories during this period. Section 627.091, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., specifically provides that the "experience of other insurers or rating organizations" may be utilized in a filing....

...in accordance with generally accepted and reasonable actuarial techniques.” § 627.062(3)(b), Fla. Stat. (2015). In determining whether the rate proposal should be approved, OIR may examine the statistical data supporting the proposed rate, and it may hold a public hearing. §§ 627.091(2), .101, 2 Fla....

..., currently David Altmaier. See §§ 20.121(3)(a)1., (4), Fla. Stat. (2015). Insurers have the option of directly filing rate change proposals with OIR or joining a licensed rating organization that will file the proposals on their behalf. § 627.091(4), Fla....

...After hearing testimony and receiving documentary evidence, the court determined that the order approving the rate increase was void because NCCI and OIR violated the 6 Sunshine Law under three separate statutory provisions: section 627.091(6), Florida Statutes; section 286.011, Florida Statutes; and section 627.093, Florida Statutes. The trial court also concluded that NCCI violated sections 627.291(1) and 119.07, Florida Statutes, when it denied Fee access to its records....

...supported by competent, substantial evidence from the record.”). A. Alleged Sunshine Law Violations The trial court found that NCCI and OIR violated Florida’s Sunshine Law in three respects. First, the trial court determined that NCCI violated section 627.091(6), Florida Statutes, by conducting meetings of the statutory rate- determination committee outside the sunshine....

...s of section 286.011, Florida Statutes. 7 And third, the trial court concluded that section 627.093, Florida Statutes, requires NCCI to conduct its activities in the sunshine. i. Section 627.091(6), Florida Statutes Florida’s Sunshine Law finds its origins in section 286.011, Florida Statutes (2015), which provides: All meetings of any board or commission of any state agency or authority or of any agenc...

...286.011. The committee of such a rating organization shall provide at least 3 weeks’ prior notice of such meetings to the office and shall provide at least 14 days’ prior notice of such meetings to the public by publication in the Florida Administrative Register. § 627.091(6), Fla....

...We conclude that none of these individuals or groups meets the definition of the rate- determination committee under the statute, and thus, none of these meetings was subject to the sunshine. Fee asserts that Rosen, in his individual capacity, acted in place of the rate- determination committee contemplated by section 627.091(6)....

...commission members.” (emphasis added)). Thus, under the plain and ordinary meaning of the terms “committee” and “meet,” Rosen, in his individual capacity, does not act or “meet” as the statutory rate-determination committee contemplated by section 627.091(6). The trial court also concluded that NCCI’s Team Peer Review and Phase II meetings, the meetings between Rosen and his own staff, and the meetings between NCCI and OIR3 were the functional equivalent of the rate-determination committee meetings described in section 627.091(6) and that the actions of these groups were subject to the Sunshine Law....

...In no way could those meetings be considered a meeting of a rate-determination committee of a rating 12 organization to determine the rates to be filed. Accordingly, neither NCCI’s internal meetings nor the meetings between OIR and NCCI was subject to the sunshine pursuant to section 627.091(6). ii....

...However, no evidence in the record supports Fee’s argument. OIR approves and disapproves rate filings; it does not make rate filings. Conversely, NCCI and individual insurers have no authority to approve or disapprove rate filings; rather, they are under a statutory mandate to file such proposals. §§ 627.091(1), (4), Fla....

...urer or rating organization”; (2) an “interpretation of any statistical data”; 4 (3) “[t]he experience of other insurers or rating organizations;” or (4) “[a]ny other factors which the insurer or rating organization deems relevant.” § 627.091(2), Fla....

...Section 627.092 creates the position of a Workers' Compensation Administrator whose job is "to monitor carrier practices in the field of workers' compensation." Workers' compensation rates require the prior approval of the Department of Insurance, see § 627.091, the policy forms must also be approved by the Department, see § 627.410, and excessive, inadequate, or unfairly discriminatory rates must be disapproved by the Department, see § 627.062....

...tatutes. The Bureau is a division of the Council and as such, it acted as a rating organization for the insurers of Appellants herein. Pursuant to its license from the Department, the Bureau made rate filings for workmen’s compensation pursuant to Section 627.091(4) and adopted rules for the governing of matters pursuant to the filing....

391, F.S.A. . BIS. § 627.031, V.S.A. . F.S. § 627.091, F.S.A. . Massachusetts Bond. & Ins. Co, v.