Was thinking about my old bud John G today when he called me when he was working in Los Angeles on the fire before the last fire. John had just purchase a new lap top and it was sitting on the right front seat when he ran into the rear of another car and the lap top flew into the firewall and broke the open screen off on the plastic-metal case.. and it cost more to replace than to repair, about $2,000.00. Being an old auto adjuster I advised him to turn  his puter claim to his Homeowners carrier as a total loss. He called in a couple of days later and said it was turned down as vehicle damage means " a vehicle must strike property". He appointed me as his appraiser under the provisions and advised our contention was "property stuck a vehicle". The carrier never appointed an appraiser and sent the check with out going to appraisal. I did not charge John and have fond memories like this one of my dear friend who passed on to a better place in December 2005.

I was an IA working a regular claim for the Farm. The catastrophe adjuster was on a storm and turned in an odd wind claim on his Homeowners in Houston. Facts. A nice spring day and Mrs. had the back door and front door letting the nice dry spring air circulate through the house. The back door blew shut and this caused the front door to slam with such force that a wrought iron and glass rack fell over and was destroyed on the stone floor. This was also a $2,000.00 loss.

OK lets keep the ball rolling gang.

Vehicle Loss . 18 wheelers loaded with wheat headed to the port of Houston from the wheat states would crash or overturn in the Houston Area. The on scene adjuster would have the number of the salvor with him, who would come out with a vacum machine and another truck to put the spilled wheat and finish the haul. They would only loose about 25% of the load if the weather was dry. This was 40 years ago.

Crude Oil Spills: I did liability claims for London back in the 90,s and have not liked Budweiser Beer since I learned about petroleum poison

This is when some of the range cattle in dry arid west Texas drank some salt water and oil burped up from an old well or leaking pipelines and started loosing weight. The evidence is all over the ground around the spill in the form of cow dung explosions. Of course the oil company had to pay for the lost weight of the cattle.

But the real reason was when a pipeline over the Missouri River broke and spilled several thousands that floated down stream to the Mississippi and when it got to St Louis the intake manifold to the brewery picked up the petroleum and shut the brewery down. It cost several million and it seems since that time that Bud Light does the same thing to my system as the salt water/crude oil did to those old Mexican steers out in the Perminan Basin oilfields........... hmmmm....

18-wheeler tip over on an I-80 offramp: trailer was full of beer (bottles & cans) that spilled out onto the pavement and into the ditch when the side of the trailer split open.  Lots of broken bottles, but some not.  Lots of dented cans, some not.  Department of Health idiots ordered it all disposed of, although there were many curious and willing salvagors.  Watched it get scooped up for transport to the local landfill, but seriously doubt it all reached that destination.  That beverage brand mentioned here may have had kinder effects on Ray's digestive system. 

Here's a vehicle claim I handled years ago. 

The lienholder did not get a few monthly car payments and found out the owner was dead.  Subsequently, they discovered the car was in a fire and, thus, made a claim to the insurance company.  Through the investigation, this is what we found out. 

The owner "Jack" called his girlfriend "Jill" and told her that he had a surprise for her.  So, that evening, they went out to dinner.  After dinner, they drove to a park.  Jack told Jill to close her eyes as it was time for the surprise.  She was expected him to put a ring on her finger.  Instead, he pulled out a knife and started stabbing her. 

She fought him off and got out of the car.  He chased her down and hit her with the vehicle.  She was able to get away, run to a local house and call for help. 

Jack was found a few blocks away.... in his burned vehicle.

Insured was an elderly man driving his new pickup on a dark street at night hit a large black mule with the front of his vehicle and the mule came down crushed the cab and killed the insured.

Happened in my office. The male lover would park in front of the cement truck drivers house after he left for work. On a clear day he left the convertable top down and the husband swung by the house and swung the chute  out and put about 2 yards in the convertable. I understand the owner was alerted when the four tires exploded. The comprehensive paid a total loss on the car, and the "salvage removal" was very costly.