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Reassuringly Expensive

Archive for July, 2005

An American lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars, then insured them against fire, among other things. Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of these great cigars and without yet having made even his first premium payment on the policy, the lawyer filed claim against the insurance company.

In his claim, the lawyer stated the cigars were lost in a series of small fires.

The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason that the man had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion.

The lawyer sued… and won.

In delivering the ruling, the judge agreed with the insurance company that the claim was frivolous. The judge stated nevertheless, that the lawyer “held a policy from the company in which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that it would insure them against fire, without defining what is considered to be unacceptable fire” and was obligated to pay the claim.

Rather than endure a lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000 to the lawyer for his loss of the rare cigars lost in the “fires”.

Now for the best part…

After the lawyer cashed the 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 lawyer was convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and was sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $24,000 fine.

This is a true story and was the First Place winner in the recent Criminal Lawyers Award Contest.

I travel from home into Euston Station in London each day and then on the Victoria underground line from Euston to Victoria. The Victoria line was one of the lines targeted in last Thursdays failed bomb attacks.

As I passed through Warren Street station this morning I caught a strong smell of cordite or a similar explosive. This was deeply, deeply scary. I immediately looked around to see where the smell was coming from and found myself looking for Asian men with rucksacks or bags. I couldn’t see any and the smell passed. I appeared to be the only person who smelt it but you can never tell what other commuters are thinking of course… Did I really smell it or did I imagine it?

The BBC has an interesting article on their site discussing the new reality of commuting and the fears of passengers which makes for very interesting reading.

We were finally allowed out of the building around 1530 shortly after the news that Euston station had also reopened.

There was no other way across London other than to walk which is what I did.

Clutching my A to Z I walked past Buckingham Palace and the Mall decked out in Union Jack flags to celebrate the end of WW2. Then up through St James and into a strangely quiet Regents Street.

For those that haven’t been to London Regents Street is one of the main shopping streets and usually exceptionally busy with both people and traffic. Today there were no busses, no taxis and only the odd car.

I was reminded of War of the Worlds with people fleeing London in a ‘mass exodus’.

As I got closer to London the crowds of people walking become greater as they funnelled into the street leading to the station.

I was expecting chaos at the station and a long wait for a train but it couldn’t have been more different; I stepped straight onto a train and was home in 35 minutes.

It was a monumental day in many many ways.

A day that makes you realise or reinforce who and what is precious to you.

A day that reminds you who your friends are – the ones you want to tell you are safe first.

A day that makes you consider your future.

I’m feeling sick at the moment.

My geography of London is rather poor and I was actually quite proud to have found my way almost to where I work.

I’ve just seen a news report showing where the bomb blasts were.

I could of easily walked out of Euston and straight down towards Russel Square where the bus bomb was. Luckily I headed out the side of Euston and walked down Great Portland.

That feels far too close for comfort.

I commute into London on a daily basis.

I arrived at Euston station just after 9am this morning to find them shutting the underground station access and telling us that the main underground lines are shut for the day.

I realised from this that it might be a big problem or alert but wished that I had known then how bad it was so that I could have turned around and gone home.

I decided that queuing for a cab inside a station during a possible security situation would be a bad idea and so thought I’d start walking and look for a cab on the street.

I got as far as St James Palace before I finally got a cab and started to learn what had happened from my cabby.

I’m now in my work building in Victoria and we’re being told not to leave the building.

The tube, busses and overland trains are all stopped.

At this point getting home may be difficult so we have booked hotel rooms just in case.

I feel very distant and isolated from my family who are safely 50 miles north of London.

As I was walking I tried repeatedly to call or text my wife but could not get anything through. When I finally got to the office and spoke to her she was in tears of relief.

Today is not a good day.