CopyCited 28 times | Published | Supreme Court of Florida
...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....
...wo 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....
...elines and standards to be followed in establishing rates and rating plans have been provided by the Legislature. The second constitutional attack, also with regard to an alleged improper delegation of legislative power, is the above-noted attack on § 627.291(2) which provides for an appeal from the rates applied under the rating law in the other sections hereinabove set forth....
...after written notice of such action, appeal to the department, which, after a hearing held upon not less than ten days' written notice to the appellant and to such rating organization or insurer, may affirm or reverse such action." (Emphasis added) Section 627.291(2) is challenged as an improper legislative grant to the rating agency of "unlimited discretion" without guidelines to determine how and when an aggrieved party may be heard....
...Moreover, the use of a licensed rating organization by an insurance company is optional, thus preserving the alternative right of direct filing of rate classifications to apply, and then pursuing direct appeal to the Insurance Commissioner and thereafter to the district court. §§
627.371, 627.391. The further provision of §
627.291(2) challenged is its provision that if the rating organization for the insurer "fails to grant or rejects such request within thirty days after it is made, the applicant may proceed in the manner as if his application had been rejected." A...
...as if his application had been rejected. Any party affected by the action of such rating organization or insurer on such request may, within thirty days after written notice of such action, appeal to the department... ." (emphasis added) The statute § 627.291(2) meets constitutional muster....
...charged, appears to have an adequate basis for administrative review under subsequent §
627.371, the language of which is generally the same, however, insofar as the method and times of review are concerned, as provided in the section under attack, §
627.291(2)....
...The instant suit followed. The cause did not come to trial, for the trial judge granted final summary judgment in favor of American Mutual upon the ground that Florida Welding had failed to exhaust its administrative remedies as provided by Fla. 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. Const., Article III, § 1, and (2) whether Fla. Stat. §
627.291(2), F.S.A., violates 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....
...§
627.072, [4] F.S.A., is not an improper delegation of legislative power because, through Section
627.072, the necessary guidelines and standards to be followed in establishing rates and rating plans have been provided by the Legislature. This is not true of Section
627.291(2). Section
627.291(2) provides, in part: "As to workmen's compensation ......
...rejected and appeal to the Department of Insurance. I find that these guidelines do not meet the requirements of Fla. Const., Art. III, § 1, and therefore constitute an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power. Therefore, because Fla. Stat. § 627.291(2), F.S.A., is unconstitutional, it is unnecessary to discuss Florida Welding's second constitutional issue....
CopyCited 1 times | Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal | 2017 WL 1908370, 2017 Fla. App. LEXIS 6518
...5
failing to provide notice of or a meaningful opportunity to participate in committee
meetings where its rate proposals were discussed; (2) the amended rate filing was
void ab initio due to violations of the Sunshine Law; (3) NCCI violated section
627.291(1), Florida Statutes, by denying Fee access to records regarding the rate
proposal; and (4) NCCI violated the Public Records Act by failing to respond to
Fee’s records requests.
Despite the pending complaint, the public hearing proceeded as scheduled on
August 16, 2016....
...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....
...sal.
The trial court’s conclusion to the contrary is incorrect.
B. Access to Records
Fee also alleges that NCCI failed to fully and completely respond to his
records requests, in violation of two statutes: section
627.291, Florida Statutes; and
section
119.07, Florida Statutes. We conclude that NCCI was not required to
provide Fee with access to its records under either provision.
i. Section
627.291, Florida Statutes
Fee contends that he is entitled to access NCCI’s records pursuant to section
627.291, Florida Statutes (2015), as an insured affected by a rate or aggrieved by a
rating system....
...as if his or her application had been rejected. Any party affected by the
action of such rating organization or insurer on such request may,
within 30 days after written notice of such action, appeal to the office,
which may affirm or reverse such action.
§ 627.291, Fla....
...5th DCA
2015) (holding that the legislature is presumed to understand the rules of grammar
when enacting a statute).
Moreover, all portions of a statute must be read together to achieve a
consistent whole. Borden v. East-European Ins. Co.,
921 So. 2d 587, 595 (Fla.
2006). The language contained in section
627.291(2), also written in the past tense,
16
supports a construction of the statute that would require disclosure of information
for only rates that are already in effect. Subsection (2) requires rating organizations
to provide reasonable means for any person “aggrieved by the application of its
rating system” to review the manner in which “such rating system has been applied”
to his or her insurance. §
627.291(2), Fla....
...Further, when both
subsections are read together, it is apparent that this statute was designed to allow
an insured to obtain information about a rate that is in effect or was in effect and to
determine whether he has grounds to challenge the application of the rate to him.
Because nothing in section 627.291 makes it applicable to pending or rejected rate
filings, NCCI was not required to provide records in response to Fee’s requests.
ii....
...5th DCA 2015).
IV. Conclusion
The trial court erred in declaring OIR’s final order void and in concluding that
NCCI and OIR violated the Sunshine Law. The trial court also erred in determining
NCCI violated section 627.291, Florida Statutes, and the Florida Public Records Act,
by not providing Fee with access to certain records....
CopyPublished | District Court of Appeal of Florida | 1980 Fla. App. LEXIS 17573
...ts’ request for relief. Appellants will hereinafter be referred to as Imperial and Adobe, respectively, and Appellees will be referred to as the Bureau and the Department, respectively. The initial hearing below, held pursuant to the provisions of Section 627.291(2), Florida Statutes, involved review of the manner in which an experience modification was applied by the Bureau to the operations of Appellants for the policy year January 20, 1976-January 20, 1977....
...rience modification and were approved by the Department pursuant to Section
627.231, Florida Statutes. That section of the statute permits the Appellant, upon request, to obtain review by the Department of any rule upon written notice to the Bureau. Section
627.291(2), Florida Statutes, permits review upon written request of the manner in which any rating system has been applied to a particular insured....
...they now object. The “Rule” neither prescribes law nor policy, nor does it describe the procedure or practice, of an “agency” of the government of Florida. The second and sixth points raised by Appellants are that Sections
627.221, F.S., and
627.291(2), F.S., are unconstitutional in that they constitute improper delegations of legislative authority forbidden by the Florida Constitution....
