True Crime Stories of Insurance Fraud Number 24

Read the full article at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/trees-washed-away-barry-zalma-esq-cfe and see the full video at https://rumble.com/vvnpqo-the-trees-that-washed-away.html and at https://youtu.be/tO_cMwkzKS8 and at https://zalma.com/blog plus more than 4100 posts. 

Barry Zalma, Esq., CFE presents videos so you can learn how insurance fraud is perpetrated and what is necessary to deter or defeat insurance fraud. This Video Blog of True Crime Stories of Insurance Fraud with the names and places changed to protect the guilty are all based upon investigations conducted by me and fictionalized to create a learning environment for claims personnel, SIU investigators, insurers, police, and lawyers better understand insurance fraud and weapons that can be used to deter or defeat a fraudulent insurance claim.

Excessive Rain Tempts Farmer to Attempt Fraud

Northern San Diego County, California is avocado country. Trees grow everywhere. The heavy green fruit is a cash crop in an area that cannot resist guacamole.

The insurer, with evidence that would support a rescission, decided to be practical rather than aggressively pursue its rights. Counsel met with the insured, showed that the number of trees counted from the aerial photographs showed less trees than those for which the claim was presented. Over a fine restaurant meal, the insured and counsel for the insurer settled the claim for the value of the tress counted in the aerial photographs less the value the remaining trees. Both considered the settlement to be favorable settlement. The underwriters for the insurer vowed to never insure trees on a hillside again.

In fact, he did deceive the insurer but he had none of the malice required to prove fraud with regard to the acquisition of the policy. He did, however, overstate the number of trees he claimed lost.

Paying his claim was an economic decision. If justice could have been done, the insured would have been paid nothing. The insurer appeared to have wasted its assets because it knew it was less expensive to settle than to fight.

© 2022 – Barry Zalma

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