Declarations

Reformers Battle Cry

“Let’s not make it something it’s not. Let’s not be phony. Let’s not be disingenuous.”

—Pennsylvania Majority Leader Mike Turzai, an Allegheny Republican who helped shepherd a major tort reform bill through the house last month. Republicans say the bill would rein in excessive verdicts and improve liability laws in the Keystone State. Democrats say the bill hurts victims and insulates companies.

Forecast Underwhelms

“Assuming the economic recovery continues at a modest pace, expected small increases in premium exposures in personal auto and in most commercial lines are the principal drivers of the premium increase.”

—Clint Harris, analyst at Conning Research & Consulting, which forecasts premium growth of between 3 and 4 percent in 2011, and about 5 percent for the following two years. That improvement would be “well short of what would be considered a meaningful turn in the underwriting cycle,” according to the company. Conning also predicted underwriting results would deteriorate about two percentage points this year compared to 2010.

Oil Spill Maneuvering

“These (law)suits are intended to spread liability, but they’re also part of a larger public relations effort for BP… (which) wants to remind the world they weren’t the only corporation that was a key player in this cascade of bad events that led to a remarkably bad outcome.”

—David A. Logan, dean of Roger Williams University School of Law in Bristol, R.I., commenting on BP’s move to sue Transocean Ltd, Halliburton Co. and Cameron International Corp., in one of the biggest legal moves since last year’s blowout and oil spill. BP is seeking up to recover the full cost of the disaster — estimated at $42 billion — plus costs, interest and punitive damages from each of the companies that helped it drill the doomed well.