Not having the proper insurance coverage when accidents happen is no laughing matter. At the same time, we thought it would be nice to take a break from the standard business fare by sharing with you some outrageous and unusual insurance claims.
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So, take a break from your busy day, pour a glass of your favorite beverage and enjoy!
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The Slippery Slope to Jail
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A 72-year-old New Jersey woman was dubbed the queen of the slip-and-fall scam, as she prostrated herself on the floors of department stores, supermarkets and liquor stores 49 times – claiming to have fallen due to the store’s negligence.
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Prosecutors said that she treated scamming like her job, filing multiple bogus personal-injury claims in Philadelphia, Delaware County, and New Jersey, collecting over $500,000. She then pleaded guilty to 29 counts of insurance fraud and theft in New Jersey alone and blamed her gambling addiction for her actions.
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Result: Four-year sentence under house arrest
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There’s a Mouse in My Soup – Call CSI!
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A Virginia woman tried to tap a large national chain restaurant for a $500,000 insurance settlement after “discovering” a mouse in her vegetable soup on Mother’s Day.
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But the national chain investigated further, and found that the mouse had no soup in its lungs – and therefore had not been cooked. The jury believed that the only way the mouse could have appeared in the soup is if she’d put it there.
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Result: One-year prison sentence for conspiracy to commit extortion (but she still maintains her innocence.)
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Hot Stuff!
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A Delaware man torched his own home and car to collect on his homeowners and auto insurance. He said it all started when pans on his wood stove ignited while he was cooking. Then, buckets of coals caught on fire.
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After trying to extinguish the inferno, the culprit said he threw the first bucket out the door, where it apparently landed in the backseat of his convertible. While en-route to tossing the second pan outside, he tripped and the pan landed on his sofa. Unbelievable? That’s what local law enforcement thought, too. The man pleaded guilty to second and third-degree attempted insurance fraud.
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Result: Five-year probation, no insurance benefits
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After insuring tanning salons for over 25 years, we have seen and heard it all!
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Where There’s Smoke, There’s Jail!
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A North Carolina lawyer purchased a box of expensive cigars and insured them against flood, storm damage and fire. Needless to say, his investment went up in smoke within a month – after which he filed a claim with his homeowners insurance provider, stating that “the cigars were lost in a series of small fires.”
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The insurer refused to pay, asserting (correctly) that the man had smoked the stogies himself. A judge ruled, however, that since the insurer had never stated what was an “acceptable” fire, the company did, in fact, owe him $15,000 to replace his property.
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Result: The insurer paid the claim, but then had the lawyer arrested. He was sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $24,000 fine for 24 counts of arson and insurance fraud.
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The Coconut Telegraph
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The staff at various hotels and resorts in the tropics found it highly amusing when travel agencies began selling insurance policies with their travel packages to cover injuries caused by falling coconuts.
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The managing director of a major chain decided to do more research and cited statistics showing that about 150 people a year are killed by falling coconuts. Keep in mind that this is ten times the number of victims of shark attacks.
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The same year that this was popular, a woman was sitting under a palm tree when a coconut fell on her head, knocking her out cold. She was hospitalized and over time, recovered fully.
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Result: Insurance Company paid her claim in full.
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For more wacky claim scenarios specific to the tanning industry, call us. After insuring salons for over 25 years, we have seen and heard it all!
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