Declarations

Presidents rememberedM
“I think in our country most presidents have great qualities. I knew Nixon quite well and I was a great admirer of his. His grasp of foreign policy was uncanny. He had weaknesses but he had great strengths … I think President Clinton was a very articulate and fast learner.”

Comments made about recent presidents offered by Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, current chairman of C.V. Starr & Co., as part of a wide-ranging interview with Insurance Journal’s Andrew Simpson at the recent Target Markets Program Administrators Association Meeting in Atlanta. Greenberg, former chairman of American International Group and a pioneer in opening China and other foreign markets to U.S. insurers, was asked which world leaders he has known have impressed him. His answer was bipartisan and included not only former Presidents Nixon and Clinton, but both Presidents Bush.

A legal ‘second coming’
“If you or I had a judgment of $10.1 billion, we’d probably do anything possible to keep it alive. In many respects, this is grasping at legal straws. This case is pretty much dead in the water, and it would take a legal second coming of some kind for this to be revived.”

J. Steven Becket, director of trial advocacy at University of Illinois’ law school comments on a Madison County judge’s attempt to resurrect a lawsuit over light cigarettes. The case was thrown out on appeal and now Madison County Circuit Judge Nicolas Byron asked the Mount Vernon-based 5th District Appellate Court of Illinois to rule whether he has authority to reopen the lawsuit, citing possible new evidence stemming from a separate tobacco case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. Odds of reopening the case are long because the state Supreme Court ordered it dismissed and the U.S. high court declined to consider the appeal, Beckett said.

Double lawsuits?
“The Minnesota Trial Lawyers Association was behind this very aggressive, self-serving effort to line their pockets. If passed, this legislation would result in increased frivolous lawsuits and fraudulent claims, resulting in higher costs for consumers.”

Comments made by Joe Thesing, the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies’ (NAMIC) director of state affairs concerning efforts to pass bad faith legislation in Minnesota. According to NAMIC and the Minnesota Association of Farm Mutual Insurance Companies, if passed, the “Double Lawsuit” or bad faith proposals would have allowed trial attorneys to sue not only the party they think is responsible for an injury, but that party’s insurance company as well. Despite passage of the House version, HF 2389, sponsored by Rep. Joe Atkins, Senate Commerce Committee Chair Tarryl Clark, the primary sponsor of SF 2173, failed to garner enough support in that chamber to justify a floor vote, solidifying the ultimate defeat of the proposals.