Old Slip Benefits & Insurance Services, LLC v. Allstate Insurance Company

Background

Old Slip Benefits & Insurance Services, LLC entered an Exclusive Allstate Franchise Agreement with Allstate Insurance Company effective March 1, 2024. The agreement prohibited Old Slip from soliciting, selling, or servicing insurance for another company, agent, or broker without Allstate’s written approval. It also allowed either party to terminate the agreement with 90 days’ written notice, or a longer period required by law.

After Old Slip began operating, an Allstate salesperson allegedly demanded that James Lukezic stop offering financial-services products other than Allstate’s products, transfer financial-services customers to Allstate’s separate financial-services company, give up his securities licenses, and transfer his investment-advisory clients. Lukezic declined. Allstate then sent Old Slip a termination letter citing unauthorized brokering through an outside business interest.

Old Slip sued in New York state court and sought emergency relief. The state court issued a temporary restraining order to preserve the status quo while the preliminary-injunction request remained unresolved. The state court later dismissed the claims against the individual defendants and all but two claims against Allstate, but did not decide the preliminary-injunction request. Allstate removed the case to federal court on February 7, 2025.

Temporary Restraining Order

The court held that the state-court temporary restraining order expired on February 21, 2025—14 days after removal. Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65, a temporary restraining order generally lasts no more than 14 days unless it is timely extended for good cause, generally for another like period, or the opposing party consents to a longer extension.

The court rejected Old Slip’s arguments that the state court’s indefinite extension was effectively a preliminary injunction, that the federal court could retroactively extend the order, or that the order could remain indefinitely because the state court had found good cause. The court emphasized that the state court had expressly declined to grant a preliminary injunction and had not analyzed the required preliminary-injunction factors. Old Slip also had not requested an extension before the temporary restraining order expired.

The court therefore granted Allstate’s motion to declare the temporary restraining order expired. It stayed the effect of that decision until June 5, 2025, to allow Old Slip to seek an emergency stay from the Second Circuit. The court denied Old Slip’s request for a longer stay pending appeal, explaining that although termination of the agreement would harm Old Slip and its employees, the other stay factors weighed against that request.

Request to File a Redacted Manual

Allstate also moved for permission to file a largely redacted version of its Exclusive Agency Independent Contractor Manual. Allstate argued that the manual contained confidential and commercially sensitive information whose disclosure could help competitors. Old Slip opposed the request, arguing that Allstate had not shown that the entire remaining document was a trade secret or confidential information and had not overcome the presumption of public access.

The court denied Allstate’s motion. It found that the manual was a judicial document because it was filed in connection with briefing about the temporary restraining order and was likely to be relevant to the case. The court also found that Allstate’s proposed redactions covered nearly the entire document without sufficient specificity, and that a substantially similar prior version had already been made public in another case. The court ordered Allstate to file the unredacted manual by May 26, 2025.

Disposition

The court found that the state-court temporary restraining order had expired, stayed the effect of that decision until June 5, 2025, denied Old Slip’s request for a longer stay, and denied Allstate’s motion to file a redacted version of the manual. The order did not decide the ultimate merits of Old Slip’s claims against Allstate.