In the first round of a nascent class action against Allstate Insurance Co., tort lawyers survived the powerful insurer’s three-pronged move to knock the case out of federal court.

The Northbrook, Ill., insurer is Connecticut’s largest auto insurance carrier, and has engendered the wrath of plaintiffs’ lawyers nationwide. Since the mid-90s it has mailed fliers to unrepresented accident victims with claims against Allstate-insured drivers, urging them to settle without hiring lawyers.