Declarations – South Central

Drought Concern

“There’s a great deal of concern how this drought is going to play out in 2013.”

—American Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman said at the opening of the group’s convention in mid-January.

A Second Wave

“More often than not, a second wave of claims against insurance agents by their clients follows a natural disaster.”

—Sally Combs, technical director of professional liability claims at Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company.

Premium Growth

“All things considered, we expect a sustained muted economic recovery, but that’s not going to fill the hole of rate inadequacy in certain lines of business.”

—Alan Murray, senior vice president for Moody’s U.S. insurance team, said the rating agency expects pricing improvement to continue in 2013, though he suggested substantially more improvement may be needed for certain lines to get to breakeven.

Weaponry, or Art

“It is a trophy, a piece of artwork. Why do you want a Mona Lisa? … People get off on having things others don’t have.”

—Cris Parsons, general manager of Houston Armory, a Houston, Texas-area company that caters to the elite of the gun world and specializes in machine guns, silencers and other weapons required to be registered with the U.S. government. He said he could envision something like a fully automatic 12-gauge shotgun that goes for $150,000 being bought by a CEO of a major corporation.