What's Yours?

FUNNY STORY
About ten years ago there was a bad storm that blew through North Georgia.  The storm did extensive damage throughout the area.  I was assigned a claim about a tree on a house.  When I arrived at the property I found a two story colonial garrison built in late 1800's.  The home as on a city lot of approx 100' x 100' with a detached two car garage, a large storage building and a stockade fence surrounding it.

During the storm a huge oak tree was hit by lightning and half the tree fell on the dwelling.  The damage was extensive, the building was wracked; the structural integrity was compromised leaving it uninhabitable and un-repairable a total loss.  The contents of the building could not be removed due to safety issues.  There was absolutely no damage done to the fence, garage or storage building.  The tree was removed from the building.  However, the other half of the tree was left standing and the insured wanted the insurance company to pay to have it removed.  After a great deal of explaining that the policy would not cover the removal of the standing tree; the insured insisted on speaking with a supervisor.  I scheduled a meeting the next day with my supervisor and the insured.  The meeting was pretty cut and dry- we won't pay to remove the tree.  The insured was disappointed but accepted it.  That evening another storm blew threw taking down the standing half of the tree which landed on the garage, storage building and fence, all totally destroyed.   This left the whole property a total loss as contents in the garage and storage building could not be retrieved.

                                          - Hugh Q., Adjuster

SANTA CLAUS ON MY ROOF
Being an experienced property adjuster we run into may different circumstances that we always remember.

One claim that stands out is inspecting a chimney for lighting damage and the days before cell phones were popular.  I was inspecting a chimney late in the afternoon and was wearing a red shirt.  Mrs. Insured was watching me. Mr. Insured came home very drunk.  He saw me up on the roof and immediately went into the house and grabbed his shotgun.  He came outside, took my ladder away from me and started aiming the shotgun at me.  He thought I was Santa Claus coming down the chimney to fool around with his wife.  As I was hiding behind the chimney, his wife was trying to calm him down.  After about one and half hours, Mr. Insured finally fell asleep.  Mrs Insured had a hard time putting the ladder back for me so I could get down.  If I had a cell phone I could have called the fire or police department to get me down.  The following day after speaking with the insurance company they canceled the policy.

The moral of the story when inspecting a roof is to carry your cell phone and do not wear a red shirt.

                                             - Bob Y., Adjuster
BATS RUNNING WILD
I was in Florida a few years back doing a big old mansion colonial that sit right on an inlet on the east coast.  While doing my inspection, the insured was really scared. She said she had birds or something in her ceiling attic space.  All of a sudden about 15 bats flew out of the fireplace; she was freaking.  I proceeded to grab the bats by the wings one at a time when they landed on curtains, tables, etc., and took them outside and let them go.  She was amazed.  Being from Texas and dealing with bats from childhood, I knew they couldn't hurt me if I captured them by there wings.  Anyway the insured had had a pest control company come out the day before and they told her it would cost $1500 because of the danger of unknown birds, bats with rabies and such.  It took me about one hour to remove all the flying rodents and she was very pleased.  The pest company was very upset. All I could say was there are those who talk about it and those who handle it.  Just goes to prove that during a storm people try to make as much as they can off other peoples misfortunes.

                                             - Richard S., Adjuster

UNSURE MOTORIST COVERAGE
A legal clinic in East Los Angeles sent us an inquiry about our insured's unsure motorist coverage.

I guess there are a lot of those in that area!

                                             - Chuck H., Claims Manager

Do you have an interesting or funny claims story?  Tell us all about it!  Send an e-mail to "Story" at Scott@Mariposaltd.com.  Not only will we post many of the stories at the Mariposa website.. Mariposa will award several lucky winners with a $25.00 gift certificate to a restaurant of your choice.