Declarations

“I’m bitterly disappointed in the lack of a result.”

— Connecticut Prosecutor John Malone commenting on the mistrial against David Wilcox. Wilcox, a 72-year-old trucking company owner, stands accused of insurance fraud for trying to reinstate insurance on a dump truck moments after it was involved in fiery crash that killed four people and injured 19.

“We’ve been telling him to quit that job; I always knew it was dangerous.”

— New Jerseyan Janusz Bryjak, whose father, Stanislaw, was one of two men who died after falling off a 60-foot tall painting scaffold at an industrial complex in Bayonne. State and federal safety officials are investigating the accident, which comes amidst a series of high profile construction accidents in neighboring New York state.

“We take this action reluctantly, but it is important to protect our agents and consumers from the imbalance being created by the commissioner’s decisions.”

— Arbella Chairman and Chief Executive John Donohue, commenting on a lawsuit his company has filed against the Massachusetts Division of Insurance. Arbella is challenging rules it says favor new insurers in the state and take away renewal-ownership rights from independent agents.

“If you’re driving, that fraction of a second that you take your eye off the road can be the difference between an accident or not.”

— New York state Senator Carl Marcellino (R-Syosset), who is the prime sponsor of legislation recently passed by the Senate which bans drivers from reading, writing or sending text messages. The law modifies earlier legislation that bans cell phone use while driving, and creates a $100 penalty for texting while driving, the same penalty as the original cell phone ban.

“A lot of this stuff is not visible to the untrained eye. Sometimes it’s not even visible to the trained eye.”

— Crane safety consultant Jeff York commenting on the difficulties in inspecting construction cranes. Poor inspection processes are being singled out for the collapse of a crane in New York City last month that killed two people and sheared off much of the façade from a nearby building.

Topics New York