Declarations

Trucking

“He was not working with the truck in any way and was not entering or exiting the truck. He had no purpose or connection with the truck other than the incidental contact that led to his unfortunate injuries and death.”

—Wrote Montana Supreme Court Justice Jim Rice, following a unanimous ruling by the court that the family of a man who was run over and dragged by a cement truck is not covered under the vehicle’s insurance policy because he did not technically “occupy” the truck.

Greece Meet Alabama

“Greece has the economy of somewhere like Alabama. I think the high degree of uncertainty coming out of Europe is overblown.”

—Insurance Information Institute President and Chief Economist Robert Hartwig said in early November during his talk at the annual Professional Liability Underwriting Society Conference in San Diego, which drew over 1,700 industry professionals this year.

Whac-A-Mole

“It’s sort of a ‘Whac-A-Mole’ situation.”

—Daniel J. Howell, senior executive vice president and managing director of Alliant Insurance Services Inc.’s Specialty Group, speaking at the annual Professional Liability Underwriting Society Conference in San Diego. He was discussing how municipalities are struggling to deal with prison overcrowding, which he believes is creating increased liability issues for such government entities.

Yakuza

“The risk of doing business with organized crime has gotten massively larger.”

—Nicholas Smith, head of Japanese equities strategy at CLSA in Tokyo, talking earlier this month about new laws that he said are “extremely powerful and likely to produce big changes” in Japan’s corporate world and its relation to the Yakuza Crime Syndicates.

Topics Auto