Florida's top insurance regulator said today he will notimplement his order suspending Allstate's ability to write newbusiness, which an appeals court ruled Wednesday was his right.

Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty announced that he hadordered a stay of the suspension because the Northbrook, Ill.-basedinsurance giant had finally complied with a subpoena issued by hisOffice of Insurance Regulation last October seeking thousands ofdocuments from the insurer.

He warned that the suspension could go back into effect if heseeks more material and the insurer does not comply.

Mr. McCarty said Allstate had submitted an affidavit certifyingthat it has provided all the material that was demanded as part ofan investigation of Allstate's rate-setting and business practicesin Florida.

Allstate spokesman Adam Shores said the company welcomed theannouncement and has said it will work with and cooperate with Mr.McCarty's office. "If there's more information they are looking forwe will be glad to provide that to them."

The commissioner's announcement follows First District Court ofAppeal's opinion denying Allstate's motion for a rehearing on theissue of the commissioner's right to issue the subpoena.

"I have stayed the suspension of Allstate, and I have acceptedits affidavit as evidence that they have completely andunconditionally complied with Florida law and with our requests fordocuments," said Commissioner McCarty in a statement.

He added, "I also, though, have made it perfectly clear thatfailure to cooperate with necessary, ongoing requests from theoffice will result in an immediate resumption of thesuspension.

"As I said yesterday, it is unfortunate for Allstate's agents,their staff members and their policyholders that it has taken courtaction to compel the company to comply with Florida law. Thedistrict court's order enables the office to investigate whetherAllstate has engaged in claims practices that have been harmful toits policyholders."

The OIR and Allstate have been battling in the courts overwhether the suspension order could be enforced since Jan. 17, whenhe issued it.

Mr. McCarty issued the order after he abruptly halted a Jan. 15hearing that was to look into the Allstate Companies' reinsuranceprogram and possible collusion in their relationships with riskmodeling companies, insurance rating organizations and insurancetrade associations.

In addition to pursuing his investigation into businesspractices, Mr. McCarty denied an Allstate request for a 42 percentrate increase.

The number of documents asked for from the company was said toinvolve 825,000 pages. According to Mr. McCarty's office, nearlyfour months after the subpoena was issued last year only 36,000pages had been produced.

In litigating the matter the company had argued in part thattrade secrets were involved. Among the documents was a consultant'sstudy that reportedly advised the company that it could save moneyby denying, delaying and defending in court against payment ofclaims.

A spokesman for Mr. McCarty, Ed Domansky, said the commissionerand his attorneys will now review all the Allstate material "andsee where that takes us."

When the hearing for the insurer was called off in January, Mr.Domansky said the insurer in addition to failing to providerequested documents had also not brought certain company executiveswho were called as witnesses. The company gave the OIR 51 pages ofobjections to the subpoenas.

OIR said on June 16 there will be a hearing on a collaterallegal matter before the Division of Administrative Hearingsconcerning Allstate's alleged failure to comply with the documentrequest; there also are two other counts--falsely asserting tradesecrets and false certification of its rate filing lastSeptember.

Mr. McCarty met recently with Allstate agents and told them heunderstood their concerns, but they should tell their company tocomply.

In reaction to his action today the Florida Association ofInsurance and Financial Advisors released a statement saying, "Wecannot express enough our gratitude to the commissioner, not onlyfor acting in such an expeditious manner but also for taking timerecently to meet with a group of Allstate agents, to hear theconcerns they had about their businesses, their families and theiremployees.

"Despite his deep convictions regarding this dispute,Commissioner McCarty genuinely showed profound concern for thesesmall-business men and women who work on the main streets of townsand cities all over our state.

"While we understand there are still issues that are pending inthis matter, TGIF has never meant quite so much to the Allstateagents in Florida."