It Figures

$105.3 million
The amount being paid by Prudential Financial Inc. over 20 years for the naming rights to the new arena for the NHL’s New Jersey Devils’ hockey team. The $375 million downtown venue is already under construction nearly across the street from the headquarters of the life insurance giant. It is expected to open for the 2007-2008 season.

$16,000
The yearly retainer paid directors who sit on the board of Beacon Mutual Insurance Co. Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri recently increased his influence over the operations of the state’s largest workers’ compensation insurer by naming two labor representatives as new board members, not long after one of his business and political associates was named the new president and chief executive officer of the same company. The directors are Carcieri’s third and fourth board appointments.

$400,000
The buyout that former Maryland state Sen. Thomas Bromwell received when he stepped down as head of the Injured Workers Insurance Fund. U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein, in his pursuit of corruption charges against Bromwell, has argued in papers filed in U.S. District Court in Baltimore that Bromwell’s severance package should be targeted for forfeiture.

$250
The higher fine being considered by Connecticut lawmakers for people who talk on their handheld cell phones while driving. The state’s cell phone ban took effect In October, 2005. Lawmakers now say too many drivers are still chatting away without fear of serious repercussions. The fine is now at $100.

$60 billion
The record estimated income after taxes for property casualty insurers in 2006, according to the Insurance Information Institute.

$8 billion
The estimate of insured catastrophe losses in 2006, down from $62 billion in 2005, according to the Insurance Information Institute.

$54 million
The lost value claim filed with Lloyd’s of London by Steve Wynn, Las Vegas casino magnate, who accidentally poked a hole in a Picasso painting he owns. Wynn filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, seeking to force Lloyd’s to expedite his claims for reimbursement and restoration costs for “Le Reve,” a 1932 painting depicting Picasso’s mistress, Marie-Therese Walter.