Declarations
“Given the sensitive nature of the data exposed and potential impact to those directly involved, I would expect a response in much less than 24 hours from notification to action.”
— Tim Marley, a vice president for risk management at the cybersecurity firm Cerberus Sentinel, questioned the speed of the California Department of Justice’s response to the potential exposure of personal information of hundreds of gunowners on the agency’s website.
“It’s a complete violation of the Constitution. The judge is not the trier of facts.”
— Attorney Hank Asbill, who helped write an amicus brief in the appeal of Greg Lindberg, a North Carolina insurance entrepreneur who was convicted of attempting to bribe the state’s insurance commissioner in 2018. The U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in June agreed with Asbill and ordered a new trial for Lindberg and his co-defendant John Gray. The court found that the lower court judge had erred in his instructions to the jury that replacing a deputy insurance commissioner with one more favorable to Lindberg’s business investments was an “official act.” The jury, not the judge, should decide what is an official act, the appeals court said.
“In the 21st century, there’s no excuse for companies to have poor cybersecurity systems and practices that hurt consumers.”
— New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement after reaching an agreement with New York-based Wegmans over a data breach that exposed personal information of more than 3 million of the supermarket chain’s consumers nationwide. Wegmans agreed to pay $400,000 and upgrade its security practices. James said customers’ email addresses and Wegmans account passwords were exposed for about 39 months, while customers’ names, mailing addresses and data tied to their driver’s license numbers were exposed for about 30 months.
“In my 30-plus year career, I’ve never seen so many new market entrants come in within a few months of each other.”
— Bill Wilkinson, president of the national casualty brokerage at wholesale broker Risk Placement Services (RPS), said in the broker’s U.S. Casualty Market Outlook. More than 20 new insurance companies and managing general agents have entered the excess and surplus marketplace over the last couple of years — and they may be more aggressive than incumbent insurers, according to RPS.
“Sadly, the tragic accident was the result of a number of extraordinarily unusual factors coming together.”
— Guy R. Cook, the lawyer representing the family of 11-year-old Michael Jaramillo who died on a water ride at an Iowa amusement park a year ago. The family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in state court, alleging Adventureland Park in the Des Moines suburb of Altoona failed to properly maintain and repair its rides. Jaramillo was on the Raging River ride at the park on July 3, 2021, when the raft carrying all six family members flipped, trapping them beneath the water. Jaramillo drowned and other family members were injured. The lawsuit claims the park continued to operate on the day of the accident despite reports of serious problems.
“Continued operation of Freeport’s LNG export facility without corrective measures may pose an integrity risk to public safety, property or the environment.”
— The U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said in a preliminary report that the second-biggest U.S. liquefied natural gas export facility, which was hit by fire, will not be allowed to repair or restart operations until it addresses risks to public safety. The June 8 blast and fire knocked out Freeport LNG’s 15 million-tons-per-year Quintana plant. The root cause analysis of the fire likely will delay a partial restart of the plant for 90 to 120 days, and could delay a full restart, analysts said.