Declarations

N.J. gay couples

“Denying committed same-sex couples the financial and social benefits and privileges given to their married heterosexual counterparts bears no substantial relationship to a legitimate governmental purpose.”

The New Jersey Supreme Court in its decision giving the state Legislature 180 days to either change the marriage laws or come up with another scheme to guarantee that same-sex couples be afforded “on equal terms the same rights and benefits enjoyed by opposite-sex couples under the civil marriage statutes.”

Beacon Mutual apology

“There is no question that in the past mistakes were made. Reforms are being implemented to ensure a greater level of transparency and equity for all our policyholders.”

Clifford Parent, Beacon Mutual interim chief executive officer, in a Sept. 12 letter to its 14,000 Rhode Island workers’ compensation policyholders eight months after an audit found that the insurer gave improper breaks to preferred clients. The findings led to the firing of the former CEO and the resignation of three board members.

Ground zero workers

“If even a minority of the plaintiffs suffered serious injuries to their respiratory tracts arising from the acrid air of Sept. 11, their claims deserve to be heard when a recovery could make a difference in their lives.”

U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein in ruling that New York City, its roughly 150 contractors and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey are not totally immune from lawsuits brought by emergency workers sickened after working amid toxic dust at ground zero. His ruling cleared the way for thousands of claims. Hellerstein said they were only partially immune from lawsuits, with the extent of the immunity varying according to date, place and activity.

Record profits

“It now appears clear that the industry’s record profits in 2004 and 2005, and the exceptional record profit about to be reported for 2006, are due in large part to the years of huge rate hikes in the earlier part of the decade, which were not caused by any accompanying increase in claims or payouts. In fact, inflation-adjusted payouts and claims never increased at all during this period. Rather, this is all part of a well-documented cyclical phenomenon for the property/casualty insurance industry.”

J. Robert Hunter, director of insurance for the Consumer Federation of America, co-founder of Americans for Insurance Reform and former Texas Insurance Commissioner and Federal Insurance Administrator, reacting to a report indicating that skyrocketing insurance rates of 2000 to 2003 have led to record industry profits but commercial insurance rates have stabilized or dropped in almost every sector, including medical malpractice.