Declarations

Don’t Know

“I don’t know. I really, really don’t know. I’ve never known. I just find another person and we play rock, paper, scissors and then we announce the rates, so please stop asking me.”
• North Carolina Insurance Department personal lines rating actuary.

Disaster Plan

“I can’t believe Congress did what we said. They have never done that before.”
• Bill Melater, former senior VP of the Association of Federal Insurance Lobbyists, after Congress cut all federal programs having to do with insurance, interviewed outside his state’s unemployment office.

Separation of Powers

“Insurance regulation should be done by insurance executives and banking regulation by banking executives.”
• Financial Services Round Table

Hole Truth

“We ran out of names.”
• Florida Gov. Brick Spott explaining why the state is ending its program that named sinkholes after famous Floridians.

Dawning

“Please bind the ‘sunset clause’ option. My insured (contractor) doesn’t work after sundown!!”
• An agent’s response from an agent to an insurer offering a contractor’s policy with a sunset clause that restricts the number of years a claim can be filed. Submitted by Mike Stith.

Thingmaker

“They make things.”
• Agent’s response to a commercial lines application question asking for a description of the applicant’s operations.
Submitted by Ron Young.

Cell Shocked

“We have to be a bit cautious about blaming it all on climate change.”
• Henry Heddinsand, Global Weather Centre, noting that last year’s floods in Thailand that triggered $45 billion in damage were caused by too many people losing their cell phones in rivers rather than by climate change.

Undercover

“Increased regulatory, shareholder and media scrutiny combined with volatility in the global economy means that serving in the bedroom has never been so risky.”
• Williies Group in its latest report, “Bedroom Guide to Executive Risk.”

Street Cents

“Putting separate, automated walkways alongside regular sidewalks just makes sense.”
• Ed Enjoorie, a pedestrian injured while texting, testifying before Congress on how to prevent texting injuries.

Faster Sales

“New policy sales and renewals go much faster when an agency eliminates the use of coverage checklist practices.”
• Agency consultant Chris Brand applauding agencies for abandoning the archaic practice of checklists.

Topics Legislation