Rediculous Lawsuits

[LionHeart]

Okay, so this guy buys a case of 24 very rare and expensive cigars; so expensive, that he decides to get insurance on them; insuring against flood, fire, theft, etc. So within a month, he had smoked all of them; and before paying even his first premium on the insurance, he files a claim against the insurance company; saying that the cigars were lost in "a series of small fires".

Of course the insurance company refused to pay because they knew he smoked em. So the man sued the insurance company and won!!! The judge granted him the case on the grounds that the insurance company did not specify clearly enough what could be considered as fire damage.

So rather than endure a lengthy and costly appealing process, the insurance company decided to accept the ruling and pay the little cretin $15,000 for the 24 cigars he lost in "the fires".

But it gets better.

After the cretin cashed his settlement check, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of arson. With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used against him, the man was convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $24,000 fine.

[Snow]

Don't believe it.

[Dr T]

That is ridiculous. I'm glad they won! Serves him right.

[Guest MrsS]

Sounds like a good story ~ EXCEPT the part about the first premium not being paid. Without any premium paid - there is no insurance in force. Change the story to read that he only paid the first installment of his insurance. That would be more believable.

Don't believe me about no premium paid no insurance in force - contact your insurance agent. I am a CSR for an Insurance company.

[Latter Days Guy]

I had only a few days previous to my accident renewed my insurance for my bike. I have not as yet paid any premium either but they are still paying out for my accident.

[Guest MrsS]

I had only a few days previous to my accident renewed my insurance for my bike. I have not as yet paid any premium either but they are still paying out for my accident.

Key word here is renewed.

What are the effective dates of your insurance? What is the date of your accident? Was this accident your fault? Or the fault of someone else?

[ Never mind, I checked back in your posts and found the information]

Your accident involved a SUV which hit YOU - thus it really isn't your insurance company that is paying you. They may be right now, but they are going to recover the money from the SUV's insurance carrier.

By the way - had you no insurance you still would have had your medical costs paid for because the SUV has insurance.

Also - don't sign off on the payment of medical costs without talking to your Insurance Claims Adjuster, or to an attorney. You have had pins put in, and you want to be sure that the claim money to pay for any possible future follow up, or problems will be there IF you need it.

Whenever any of you are involved in car accident - whether it is your fault or not - always contact your insurance carrier, and/or your agent. Then follow their advice - what I tell our clients is this: If you are hit by someone, get all of their information: i.e. all information from their drivers license, phone numbers, email address's, insurance information, Name of carrier, name of agent, policy number, including the effective dates of the insurance. Make sure their vehicle ID card matches the vehicle they are driving. ALSO get the license tag number of the vehicle. Be sue to get the Name, Badge Number of the police officer AND the number of the report he is writing up. IF you have a camera TAKE PICTURES of their car, your car (4 views of each car minimum) - of the driver of the car that hit you and if possible all of his/her passengers. Take pictures of the surrounding area, of possible witness's. If you are too upset to do this and have a passenger or passengers have them do it.

On the flip side: If you are responsible, give your information to the other driver, the police officer, TAKE pictures, etc. Then promptly call the accident in to your insurance carrier. The longer you wait, the more it will look like to the adjusters like you are trying to avoid responsibility. Plus in most states there are laws regarding reporting accidents. IF it is attended by a police officer - you better get it called in as soon as possible, because the officer is going to notify ALL insurance companies involved as soon as he gets back to his computer!

One way to make this easier for you to do is keep a small notepad and mechanical pencil ("ink" never dries up or runs out) in a pencil pouch along with you insurance ID card and car registration. When you get out your information to give to the other driver and police officer, you will then have everything you need to take down information too!

Now I know that you were the victim GB-UK, that you were injured and taken to the hospital. You should have been contacted at the hospital by the police officer involved - right then you should have asked for copies of all the information s/he had. At the very least, taken her/his name and badge number down. Then given this to your insurance agent/carrier.

Too often we only call our own carriers - but when the accident is obviously the others fault - you are responsible for calling it in to their carrier. We do recommend informing your agent/carrier - so they can be forewarned and better prepared to assist you.

[LionHeart]

Well my source is unverifiable so it may not be true, but it was good none the less.

[Maureen]

It looks like this story is really a 10 year old urgan legend:

http://www.snopes.com/crime/clever/cigarson.asp

M.

[Dr T]

Maureen,

Your resourcefulness and knowledge of how to track down internet information truly is great/impressive!

Dr. T

[Latter Days Guy]

wow! Thanks for that info, I would never have thought to claim for future medical precedures for the removal of the pins! Thanks