It Figures

$7.5 Million

Amount sought by a Pennsylvania woman in a lawsuit filed against shoemaker Crocs Inc. Kerry Burdick said her 6-year-old son injured his toe on an escalator while wearing a foam clog made by Crocs — a danger she claims the company knew about. A document Crocs filed in a separate case says more than 200 people worldwide have reported similar incidents. The company says its shoes aren’t to blame, but it will add safety warning tags to its shoes this year.

$3.1 Million

Amount of gift from Boston-based Liberty Mutual Group to create a professorship in property and casualty insurance law Boston College Law School. The gift is the largest in the 79-year history of the school.

3,000

Number of traffic tickets issued during a two-day driving crackdown by Virginia law enforcement authorities last month on Interstates 64 and 66. Speeding accounted for 2,400 tickets issued, but troopers also cited 374 motorists for reckless driving and issued 276 tickets for seatbelt violations. Four were charged with drunken driving.

5

Number of workers at a North Bergen, New Jersey towing company charged in a scheme through which they took money to tow cars and report them as stolen to insurance companies. The arrests capped a two-month investigation by numerous law enforcement agencies. Charges include theft, conspiracy, arson-for-hire and aggravated assault.

1

Percentage drop in New Jersey’s 2009 workers’ compensation insurance premiums, a decline that will save the state’s business an estimated $33 million. Although rates gave fallen, the maximum workers compensation benefit for injured workers will increase to $773 a week in 2009 – a 4 percent increase over last year. Rates are set by the state’s Department of Banking and Insurance based on a filing by the Compensation Rating and Inspection Bureau, a workers’ compensation rate service organization.