Top 10 Bizarre

Insurance Claims
ALPHA

JANUARY 6, 2013

Have you ever been hit by a flying Christmas tree while driving?
Claimed that your mobile phone got wedged in the back end of a
cow? Prepare for deep immersion, readers, into the world of bizarre
insurance claims some of them spectacular, some of them sad,
and some of them inviting a hearty WTF?!

10
Back End of the Beast

Ivor Bennett a livestock farmer in Devon, UK claimed that his

phone disappeared inside the back end of one of his cows.

It wasnt that he had any perverse or deviant obsession hed been

using the torch on his iPhone while assisting the cow during calving
in the middle of a particularly dark and stormy night.
The phone later made a reappearance but perhaps a little
unsurprisingly, failed to work properly.
Result: The Insurance company paid out on the claim in full

9
Lying in Public

Isabel Parker, the 72-year-old queen of the slip-and-fall scam,

prostrated herself in department stores, supermarkets and liquor
stores 49 times during her long career a sad byproduct of her
gambling addiction.
Prosecutors said that she treated insurance claims like her job
and she kept very busy. The woman filed a total of 49 bogus

personal-injury claims in Philadelphia, Delaware County and New

Jersey, and collected $500,115 between 1993 and 2000. She
pleaded guilty to 29 counts of insurance fraud and theft in New
Jersey alone.
Result: Four-year sentence under house arrest

8
Waiter, theres a mouse in my soup!

Carla Patterson tried to tap a Virginia Cracker Barrel restaurant for a

$500,000 insurance settlement after discovering a mouse in her
vegetable soup on Mothers Day.
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 shed put it there.
Result: One-year prison sentence for conspiracy to commit extortion
(but she still maintains her innocence).

7
Double Doofus

A man from Delaware torched his own home and his own
convertible to collect on his homeowners and auto insurance.
Nicholas Di Puma said it all started when pans on his wood stove
ignited while he was cooking. Then buckets of coals caught on fire.

After trying to extinguish the inferno, Di Puma 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 second landed on his sofa. Unbelievable? Thats what local law
enforcement thought, too. Di Puma pleaded guilty to second and
third degree attempted insurance fraud.
Result: Five-years probation, no insurance benefits. Home and car
completely destroyed.

6
Bride on Fire

Some wedding days just dont turn out the way you expect.
Everything seemed to be going well on the day for Paula Catelli

from Rimini, Italy, until her beautiful, hand-made wedding dress

came slightly too close to the barbecue.
The synthetic material went up in flames immediately, and within
moments Catelli was what no girl on her wedding day ever wants to
be a bride on fire.
Her loving husband saved the day by picking her up and throwing
her into the sea. Fortunately, both bride and groom were excellent
swimmers.
Result: The insurance company paid out 50% compensation for the
disaster possibly out of sympathy.

5
Killed His Mom and Torched the House

High living had left Chicago grain futures executive Marc Thompson
deeply in debt. In desperation, he torched his home for the
$730,000 in insurance money.
To make it appear a suicide, he led his 90-year-old mother Carmen
downstairs, doused the basement with accelerant, and tossed the
match.
Carmen Thompsons Aug. 11, 2002, death by carbon monoxide
poisoning and smoke inhalation must have seemed the perfect alibi.
But federal agents continued to investigate the fire, and the truth
emerged.
What kind of skunk would do this?
Result: Most definitely no insurance payout. Thompsons own future
is secure for 190 years in federal prison.

4
Vibrator Phone Fail

An unnamed (youll see why) woman in her late 20s from Bristol,
UK, deserves particularly honorable mention in this list.
Last year she claimed that the vibration function on her Blackberry
Bold 9900 phone had stopped working wait for it while she was
using it as an adult toy.
Result: Raucous laughter from inside the insurance claims office for
several days.

3
Cigared for life

A lawyer from North Carolina purchased a box of expensive cigars

and insured them against flooding, storm damage and of all things
fire.
Needless to say, his investment went up in smoke within a month
after which the lawyer filed a claim with his homeowners insurance
company, stating that he was owed compensation because the
cigars were lost in a series of small fires.
The insurer refused to pay, assuming (correctly) that the man had
smoked the pack himself. A judge ruled, however, that since the
insurer had never stated what was considered to be unacceptable
fire, the company did, in fact, owe him $15,000 to replace his
property.

Result: The insurance company 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.

2
Tropical Missiles

People were falling off their chairs laughing when British travel
agency Club Direct began issuing policies to cover injuries caused
by falling coconuts.
Brent Escott, their managing director, cited statistics which show
that 150 people or ten times the number of victims from shark
attacks are killed every year by falling coconuts. There was some
perception that perhaps Mr. Escott had been struck on the head.

That same year in Sri Lanka, a Club Direct customer was calmly
sitting under a palm tree reading a book when a coconut fell on her
head, knocking her out cold. She was duly hospitalized. Lucky.
Result: Insurance company paid out in full.

1
Flying Christmas Tree

Mr. Fairclough was driving home from Christmas shopping, when he

saw a car coming the other way with a Christmas tree badly tied to
its roof.

This must have been a split second observation: no sooner had he

seen it than the tree launched itself straight at him.
He was driving too fast around a sharp bend and I saw the tree lift
off and it flew straight at me. The trunk made a great dent in my
bonnet and caused me to swerve off the road into a hedge.
Mr Fairclough added: The chap didnt stop and he never came
back for his tree, so the Police said we might as well have it. It
wasnt funny at the time, but looking back it was like a comedy
sketch! Nice.
Result: Insurance company paid out all damages.
by Taboola
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When it comes to your auto insurance policy and the factors that go into
determining your auto insurance rates, here are a few things about auto
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Your personal items lost due to vehicle theft are not covered by your
auto insurance policy. Your homeowner policy covers these items instead.
If you regularly have expensive items in your vehicle such as laptops and a
GPS device, you should carry a rider to cover those expensive items. You
should also have photographs of those items.

Auto insurance is tax deductible for business use. Simply determine

the amount of time that you use your car for solely business purposes. For
example if its 30% of the time, then 30% of your auto insurance may be
deductible. It may be to your best advantage to take the flat per-mile
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If you purchase a low-risk vehicle (which is based on the cost of the
vehicle, plus safety and theft data) and/or a low-profile vehicle (one that is less
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will cost you less is a bit of a secret in the auto insurance industry. However
theInsurance Institute for Highway Safety has data that you can research to
help you make an educated decision. And heres how to look up your cars
relative risk.
Your occupation affects your auto insurance rates. For example,
engineers get discounted rates because they are deemed less likely to "wrap
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If you switch your auto insurance policy, dont forget to cancel your
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to non-payment.
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has been in an accident and is repaired because it will be worth less than
if it were not in an accident. This can only be done if you live in Florida,
Georgia, Hawaii, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, North
Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia and if
the accident was not your fault.

Make sure your vehicle information is listed properly on your auto

insurance policy. Little inaccuracies can make a big difference in your auto
insurance rates! Believe it or not, mistakes like this are quite common:
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wrong model of vehicle listed (since so many model names sound very
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Affiliation with AAA and other professional organizations will lower
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group insurance rates. Ask your insurance rep which groups & organizations
would lower your auto insurance rates.
If a friend borrows your car and gets in an accident, you will have to
file a claim with your auto insurance company. That means you will have to
pay any deductible that applies, and your auto insurance rates will probably
go up as a result of your claim.
Your auto insurer has to pay the insurance on your replacement car if
your previous vehicle is totaled. If you live in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas,
California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas,
Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey,
New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Vermont,
Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin be sure to ask for a reimbursement.
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In 28 state
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expect the insurer to offer to pay upfront. In the end, many auto insurers will
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make you "whole" (return you to where you were before the accident at no
cost to you).
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more stable and far less likely to pay late or open & close accounts a lot. Auto
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your personality and driving habits, "despite the mistaken belief by 25% of
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your insurance at all."