Declarations

Elephant in room

“State Farm’s intentional mishandling of the slab cases has been the elephant in the living room from day one in the post-Katrina insurance debacle.”

Attorney Richard “Flip” Phillips, an attorney suing State Farm on behalf of Hurricane Katrina victims, who wants to see the agreement that Mississippi Insurance Commissioner George Dale and the company reached that calls for re-evaluation of claims on the coast.

Political pool

“You want as large a pool as you can possibly have. You want as many states participating as you possibly can.”

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney who said there is merit to some form of national natural catastrophe plan while campaigning last month in Florida.

Dale opinion

“My whole opinion is, in the ’50s and ’60s, black people had to go to court to vote or seek public office because a few misguided white people kept them from running. I know how they felt now.”

Mississippi Insurance Commissioner George Dale in a www.clarionledger.com interview after asking a judge to let him run for re-election as an independent. Dale qualified to run as a Democrat, but was removed from the ballot after the party’s executive committee cited his support for President Bush in 2004. Dale sued. The Democratic Party has since offered to place Dale back on the ballot.

Tenacious industry

“What he did wasn’t right, but I don’t think it’s a death-sentence thing. Listen, we’re fighting an industry here that is tenacious. When I say it, I’m not kidding around; they are.”

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, defending Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty, who is facing charges he used his state office for political purposes.

Lott deal

“I think it’s fair to say it’s a done deal. Right now it’s an agreement in principle, and he should be signing the papers soon.”

Zach Scruggs, one of the senator’s attorneys, reporting that U.S. Sen. Trent Lott, R- Miss., has agreed to settle the lawsuit he filed against State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. for refusing to cover Hurricane Katrina’s damage to his Gulf Coast home. Terms of Lott’s settlement with State Farm were not disclosed.