Declarations

Rules suspension
“The governor wants the opportunity to take a look not just at this initiative, but at the entire automobile insurance system in Massachusetts. Next week the governor will be putting together a study group to investigate this issue and provide advice to us within the next 60 days.”

Kyle Sullivan, spokesman for Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick, after Patrick announced he was suspending implementation of changes to the state’s high risk pool and appointing a task force to review the entire auto insurance system.

Maternity suit
“This is horrifying to me. My whole world is about servicing pregnant women.”

Rebecca Matthias, founder and president of Mothers Work in Philadelphia, which agreed to pay $375,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging it refused to hire qualified applicants because they were pregnant and fired an assistant manager who complained about it. The company has 5,000 employees and 90 percent of them are women. At any time, 300 are pregnant, said Matthias. The company settled the lawsuit last week to avoid litigation costs, Matthias said.

Pricing discipline
“We have seen more pricing discipline, particularly in personal lines, in the last five years than I have seen in my career. I think it is because no one knows what to do…. Everyone wants to grow profitably but the question is how. I don’t think anybody has been in a situation where we are not cutting prices to grow market share. This would change only if someone was to do something stupid, or there is an unexpected claims shock.”

Brian Sullivan, editor, Risk Information, Inc., discussing the property casualty industry’s 2006 financial performance and 2007 outlook.

Stock scandal
“If it were a problem, D&O rates wouldn’t be going down.”

Jay Gelb, non-life insurance equity analyst for Lehman Brothers, suggesting that the insurance industry is not too worried about directors and officers’ liability claims from the emerging scandal over backdating of stock options.

Rail danger
“Our only statement is that we believe what you did is dangerous and we strongly encourage people to stay away from railroad tracks.”

Jim Barnes, a spokesman for Union Pacific railroad, to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reporter who investigated security surrounding rails carrying hazardous cargo. The reporter was able to penetrate 48 hazardous chemical plants and the freight lines that service them. He left about 100 of his business cards on cars from Las Vegas to Seattle and was never questioned when he climbed trains, photographed derailing levers and peeked into signaling boxes that control rail traffic.