TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Legal Newsline) - The Florida Supreme Court has given Allstate Floridian Insurance Co. until noon May 20 to file a brief explaining why the justices should look at a lower court's decision to suspend the company from writing new policies in the state.

The 1st District Court of Appeals on Wednesday upheld the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation's power to suspend Allstate from writing new business.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist issued a comment on the court's action.

"Floridians across our state have suffered due to the high cost of insurance," he said.

"I applaud today's action by the 1st District Court of Appeal regarding Allstate. I also thank Commissioner McCarty and his office for their tireless efforts on behalf of the people of Florida."

Allstate's suspension came after a court found it ignored state regulator's requests for documents.

State regulators were trying to determine if Allstate had unfairly raised insurance rates on policies in Florida.

Allstate has said it gave state officials everything that has been requested.

According to published reports, the company has also said that it is filing a certified affidavit that it complied with all the requests for documents made by the state.

From Legal Newsline: Reach reporter Lin Young at linyoung10@gmail.com.