Case Study 2Litigation Support
The effort vastly improved the company’s worth, they knew that in order to succeed in this era of misleading communication their insurance coverage needed to be much more detailed than what it was. They turned to Alpha Risk to help recoup huge losses.
challenge
The giant European computer company had its property program written through a global insurer:
- The insured purchased a technology company:
The company had developed a component which was of valuable use in their mainframes. - Among the properties was a non-standard warehouse:
Concurrent with the aquisition, the insured placed close to $1 million worth of components in the warehouse. - Less than two months later, the warehouse burned to the ground:
At this time there was now approximately $100 million worth of these components stored in the warehouse.
The insurer denied coverage on several specious grounds, i.e., non-reporting of values (the quarterly report was not due until after the fire).
solution
Well into the litigation, U.S. Counsel (a major law firm) called Alpha Risk in. After studying the case, we provided them with copies of the insurer’s promotional literature which included the following language:
- “Leave everything to us”
- “We will be your global risk manager”
- “We will provide you with seamless coverage”
results
When the materials were presented to the court, the presiding magistrate ordered the insurer to pay within ten days upwards of $90 million, with the balance subject to a reconciliation of shipments to and from the warehouse in the days preceding the fire.