Appeals Court Overturns Florida Settlement Ruling

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation in connection with litigation with a life settlement firm.

The court affirmed OIR’s right to review non-Florida related records for viatical providers, says Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty.

At issue was whether McCarty’s office is allowed to make a full review of all of the records of Coventry First L.L.C., Fort Washington, Pa. – not just files identified by Coventry — to determine which files are subject to Florida laws.

The ruling overturns a Florida state appeals court decision in favor of Coventry, handed down earlier this year, saying OIR could not do that. Specifically, the earlier decision had said the OIR cannot use a 2007 law–Section 626.9922 of the Florida Statutes–to get the authority to publish information submitted in confidence by a life settlement firm before the law was adopted.

Coventry had won that earlier case on appeal from a decision by the circuit court in Leon County, Fla., which had denied Coventry’s request for an injunction barring the Florida OIR from disclosing the information.