Declarations

No means ‘no’
“I find no merit in State Farm’s contention that the assignment of these insurance proceeds deprives the plaintiffs, the named insureds, of standing to pursue a claim under the homeowners insurance policy.”

Comments made by U.S. District Judge L.T. Senter when he denied State Farm Fire and Casualty Co.’s request to dismiss a lawsuit against the insurer because the policyholders received an emergency Small Business Administration loan to help rebuild their Waveland, Miss., home after Hurricane Katrina. State Farm, based in Bloomington, Ill., has argued that cases against the company should be dismissed where SBA loans apply because the policyholders have assigned future insurance proceeds to the SBA in exchange for low-interest loans to rebuild. U.S. District Judge L. T. Senter, in denying the motion, saying he was “at a loss to understand” State Farm’s argument according to a www.sunherald.com article.

… In good hands?
“Allstate is taking responsible action now so that the company will continue to be in a strong position to help protect customers in California and across the country.”

Comments made by Robert H. Barge III, field vice president for Allstate in California, explaining the company’s decision to stop offering new homeowners and landlord package polices (LPP) in California as of July 1, 2007. The announcement does not affect its existing property insurance customers in California. “This new strategy helps protect our existing customers and provides an alternative to California consumers looking for new property insurance policies,” Barge added.

Former president says
“… I know there is no great political constituency for it, but we can avert these disasters for not very much money if they can be put into the public debate and people understand clearly what’s going to happen.”

Former President Bill Clinton, speaking at a forum sponsored by Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Clinton said that disasters such as worldwide famine and an obesity epidemic threaten the country’s stability unless politicians begin to look ahead and cooperate. Clinton said governments fail to act even when disasters are anticipated because leaders are distracted by fulfilling campaign promises and scrambling to respond to immediate emergencies. Big-picture planning gets “crowded out,” he said.