Declarations

Something’s Fishy

“It certainly has had some effect.”

—Jud Reis, spokesman for Gloucester, Mass.-based fish-seller, Gorton’s, speaking on the business impact of a voluntary recall made by the company after a Pennsylvania family found pills in their food. The FDA suspects the food was tampered with.

Hand It To Him

“I won’t say it’s useless, but it’s pretty limited in what it can do.”

—Eugene Rakow, a Rutland, Vt. Lawyer, describing the right hand of his client Carl Smith, which was accidentally crushed while Smith was working for a moving company in 2002. The state’s Supreme Court ruled that, although he had accepted workers’ compensation payments for the injury, he was not prohibited from suing his former employer.

Ship of State

“It is a glaring omission of law and it must be corrected.”

—N.J. State Rep. John S. Wisniewski (D-Middlesex), co-sponsor of a bill that would require boaters using Garden State waterways to carry liability coverage to insure against losses, injuries or death caused by the use of the vessels. The bill, called the “Donald W. McGloan Law,” is named for a New Jersey man who was killed in an explosion aboard a friend’s uninsured boat in 2002. McGloan’s family received no payments for medical or funeral costs from the accident.

Not Fine With Me

“This should not be about what’s politically correct, but what’s legally correct.”

—Virginia State Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle (R-Virginia Beach), who cast the lone vote against a bill to repeal the state’s short-lived “abusive driver law,” which had place high fees on residents who committed traffic offenses. Stolle, a lawyer, said lawmakers had the power to repeal legislation, but no authority to absolve license suspensions against people who have been unable to pay the fees – a key provision of the bill.

Mountain of Evidence

“She did have valid defenses, though she was emotionally unable to sit through the rigors of a trial.”

—William Gerace, a lawyer for Donna Wilcox of Connecticut, who pleaded guilty earlier this month to insurance fraud charges stemming from a fiery crash in that state. Wilcox admitted to she sought to restore liability insurance coverage on her husband’s dump truck within 20 minutes of learning it was involved in a fiery crash that killed the driver and three other motorists, and injured 11 others.