"I congratulate the insurance commissioner for reaching this agreement with Nationwide," said Florida chief financial officer Tom Gallagher. "The level of complaints my office received from Floridians definitely indicated that consumers were not being treated fairly. This agreement should go a long way toward making the consumers whole."

Mr. Gallagher's Department of Financial Services compiled the complaint files and hurricane deductible information used in the investigation and audits. And Mr. Gallagher department announced that unspecified "millions" in underpayments were involved.

In a statement, Nationwide said it was pleased that it was able to resolve the issue with the state.

"It is significant the order noted no violations of the Florida Insurance Code or any liability on Nationwide's part," the company said. "We feel this validates that Nationwide's handling of claims from last year's storms was timely, efficient, and customer focused."

The company said that policyholders will be notified of the company's offer to re-examine their claims, and that, "to the extent policyholders feel their claims should be re-examined per the order, Nationwide will re-review these claims."

Hurricane claims handling issues have lately been in the spotlight following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In Texas, the state Department of Insurance and Attorney General Greg Abbott obtained a restraining order to force Allstate to stop denying temporary living expenses to homeowners unable to reenter homes hit by Hurricane Rita. Allstate cited a company policy requiring documentation of damages.