http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6168688.html

A disgusting strategy by the Great American Insurance Company (what an oxymoron that is) but what do you expect? They're desperate and probably can't afford the $15 million claim anyway at this point in time.

The deal is that there was a horrible fire in an office building a few years back in Houston set by a nurse for some reason. Four people died and the building was destroyed. The families of the dead individuals have sued and now Great American (not the primary insurance company of the building but a secondary one) is trying to avoid paying $15 million in damages by claiming the four people who died didn't die due to the fire but to pollution which is exempt from the insurance claim.

Great American Insurance Company is arguing in a Houston federal court that the section of the insurance policy that excludes payments for pollution — like discharges or seepage that require cleanup — would also exclude payouts for damages, including deaths, caused by smoke, or pollution, that results from a fire.

Great American has asked U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal to find that the deaths caused by the smoke, fumes and soot from the March 2007 fire set by a nurse working in the building will not be covered by the policy because there is a specific exclusion for pollution and it mentions smoke, fumes and soot.

Every insurance company in the world tries to weasel its way out of paying out... GAIC is no different.

That defense stands a snowball's chance in hell.

WMD Owl Wrote:That defense stands a snowball's chance in hell.

Don't believe that for one second ... these huge Insurance Companies have very good friends in Extremely High Places ..... they get away with absolute murder.

I was involved in a Chemical Spill were one of the Top '3' Most Poisonous Chemicals ever created by man was Stupidly and 100% Ignorantly and by Negligence 100000000000 x 100000000000 x infinity EXPLODED ALL OVER THE PLANET.

In my State, the law you just sited is 180 Degrees Backward - - if the Insurer's of the Chemical Company and all other Defendants involved could show this was NOT Commercial Pollution - - But Was in fact A Hazardous, Deadly Chemical Release, they could have wiggled their way out of Paying.

It took them almost 10 Years to finally settle just that one Issue and Find Against the Insurer's (the Defendants) and for the Plaintiff's.

AND

I can not figure out why Insurer's are Broke - - they still haven't paid 85% of Katrina Victims what they owe them and the 15% that got paid, simply TOOK WHAT WAS OFFERED so they could just Get Out.

Watch this one and see ... it will surprise you that Texas can't Simply use My Louisiana case as a Legal Precedent against these Insurer's and quickly abate the argument as simply "Opportunistic" in form.

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Tripster Wrote:I can not figure out why Insurer's are Broke - - they still haven't paid 85% of Katrina Victims what they owe them and the 15% that got paid, simply TOOK WHAT WAS OFFERED so they could just Get Out.

From what I read the insurers of the Katrina victims tell person A they're not covered because their damage was caused by the wind which they're not insured for and then trun around and tell person B the damage was caused by the water and they weren't insured for that.

I guess if a person is shot in the heart the insurance companies can claim the ultimate cause of death was a lack of oxygen to the brain.

Its all just a delay tactic, moving toward for a settlement. They are outlasting the victims, again. It will never see the inside of a courtroom, because the jurors are gonna murder the insurance companies. This is where Insurance companies have won, buy taking the ability of normal people to get their cases heard. Ever heard of lawsuit abuse. This was propaganda put out by the insurance companies to 1)limit jury awards, 2) limit peoples access to the court by taking the profit for lawyers out of the equation. Advertising about lawsuit abuse was paid for by the insurance companies, they were the only beneficiaries of it, they lied to people saying peoples rates would go down, as uasual they have increased rates instead.

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Steve ....

I wish I had came up with that one !!!!

SUM, you do tell the Truth.

The more they Die Off, the harder it makes getting the Heirs to Agree on some sort of Arrangement of Settlement without Probate.

This is ANOTHER way to stall .... it takes a Class Action Suit years, just getting all the Heirs on board with the idea of take the money and run before they call your bluff.

They got so sick of Heirs wanting it all for themselves, that the Court took a Pretty Strong step and told them, "When you Decide, your funds will be waiting for you in Escrow, as for these Other Participating People, they will start getting theirs". (yeah right)

But it did take their power to obstruct the Process for reasons of pure greed away.

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