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Tom Toll Life Member Moderator
 Posts:899

 | | 03/13/2008 3:34 PM |
| I guess this could be considered vehicle, a 1976 Grumman Ag Cat. This was back in my younger days where risks were taken that I would not do now, under any circumstances. The pilot was ferrying this new Ag Cat to a dealership. He was enroute to La. and encountered very bad fog, was running low on fuel, (had intended to land at No. Little Rock airport to fuel) and decided to crash the plane as eloquently as possible. He fortunately was over some timber area, near the home I was raised in, near Tollville, AR.(yes the town is named after my family) he finally got low enough he could see tree tops. He pulled the throttle and just before stalling, pulled the nose up, and stalled into the top of a big ol oak tree. The Ag Cat wedged in the limbs about 30 feet from the ground. His biggest injury was a sprained ankle when he jumped from the lowest limb to the ground. I was called to investigate and recover the plane. It was near a paved highway that runs through Tollville, so it was fairly easy to find. I found the plane and decided to climb up the tree to see how much damage it had and determine the best way to recover it without inflicting more damage. I got up there, got into the cockpit and all hell broke loose, including the Ag Cat. It fell to the ground with me in it, nose first, fortunately. Believe it or not, the plane had minor wing damage, bent prop and one "N" wind brace bent. We removed the wings and transported it to the nearest dealer for repairs. I learned one lesson, don't climb up trees in inspect anything. | | Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. | |
| Ray Hall Adjuster Houston, TX
 Posts:785

 | | 03/13/2008 4:27 PM |
| An adjuster was walking the ridge on an old farm house in Kansas to inspect the roof. Sometime before this inspection the brick chimney that came thru the ridge had been removed. The old wood shingle roof had a three tab comp laid over the wood. The roofer had lace'd the comp. shingle to turn water on the steep roof and it had done this for many years. The slight adjuster fell into the attic up to his arm pitsand was lodged in this position the owner assisted him in getting out. I have no reason not to accept this as the truth. I was inspecting a comp roof in Amarillo for damage. This was an inexpensive house and had a metal barn ridge instead of a comp ridge. When I walked to the end to hook my metal tape to measure the ridge I was zapped with an electric charge. I was able to finish my work and when I told the homeowner about my charge he had this look of disbelief on his face. I warned him about the charged ridge thinking to myself he was unaware that a long nail was touching romex in his attic. | | | |
| Mike Kunze
Nebr
 Posts:375

 | | 03/13/2008 9:55 PM |
| A brand new Lincoln Towncar & a horny Chow don't mix well---- Received a vehicle loss a few years back with extensive interior damage. The insured had arrived at a dog show with their prized overgrown puppy, and had gone inside to register leaving the male dog in the car alone. Big mistake!! Another person walked by with their female dog that was apparently "in heat", and raised the testosterone level of the entrapped lovesick male. The leather upholstery was shredded, large chunks chewed out of the dashboard padding, all the windows scrached, glovebox door ripped off, control knobs off the radio/heater/etc. It attracted several observers who could do nothing much other than watch in amusement. Loss was covered under comp. | | | |
| Ray Hall Adjuster Houston, TX
 Posts:785

 | | 03/14/2008 11:57 AM |
| Ahh good old comp. coverage on an automobile policy. Mike and others think bout what is covered under comp on the auto coverage and what is covered on any "all risk of loss or risk of loss" definitions that are not excepted or excluded under the fire or inland marine forms and you will see it really is the broadest coverage an insuror will ever pay a claim under. Keeping in mind anything that is inevitable is not a risk and the word is not in the definition of comprehensive coverage {Looking for my auto policy) | | | |
| Ray Hall Adjuster Houston, TX
 Posts:785

 | | 03/14/2008 12:38 PM |
| This was a Homeowners claim that I had over 10 years ago when I was doing branch assist in Atlanta. Atlanta always seemed to have some very unique claims. The insured had his contractor and the contractors son meet me at the house for the inspection. Both were pulled up storm troopers turned contractors and coverage experts, now you see were this is going. The house had a back deck extending out over the hill that was a walkout for the 2nd story. This was an all frame house. The entire exterior wall framing in the downstairs kitchen was rotted out as well as the drywall and top and bottom cabinets, sub floor etc. Really a mess and and a bid for $30,000.00 + to tear R&R all the material and rebuild the deck that was attached to the house with a 2x12 band nailed over the T-111 siding. These coverage guru's reasoned it was covered under the H0-3 as the insured was not aware this was going on for years and the insuing damage as a result was covered.....wrong and the carrier agreed with me. # 2 A MD. in Stone Mountain purchased 5 acres in a wooded area on a steep hill. The house was between the road and the tennis court in back. The tennis court was about 65 feet higher than the ground the foundation of the house was on by moving enough soil for a flat surface to build a large house and an above ground pool. He hired a person who was moonlighting to keep the bank wall from falling by erection a retaining wall of used rail road ties with drilled holes to use to tie the ties togather and then back filling. A big rain puts weight behind the wall and the whole thing falls and buries the $75,000.00 pool. The good doc did not think so but he had nothing to loose by trying. This is enough for one day I spent 9 months in Atlanta the first year. | | | |
| Bob Harvey Gold Member California, Central Coast
 Posts:381


 | | 03/16/2008 12:12 AM |
| I handled an 18 wheeler loss in LA where a non-English speaking gentleman had consumed most of a 12 pack, leaving the rest of it as evidence in the the cab of the truck as he sailed over a guard-rail on a freeway interchange.
He was pulling a 60 foot trailer (empty) and landed 20 feet down across most of the lanes of I-5. He survived, but took out a few people and created a hell of a long line of claims arising out of one event.
#2: I was asked to locate somebody for a statement. Last known address was the homeless shelter. After a couple attempts I felt like I needed more info... and spoke with the Claims Examiner. Turns out our boy was recently released from jail after pleading guilty to attempting to run over his boss in the parking lot (our guy was a janitor at the local college). I ended up tracking him down, got his cooperation, and got a very detailed statement. Interesting loss, his boss is repped and presenting a BI claim (there was contact and a police report) along with attempted homicide. | | | |
| Larry Hardin Adjuster Oklahoma City, OK
 Posts:317

 | | 03/16/2008 5:17 PM |
| Many years ago, I worked for a company that insured policemen, firemen, truckers, all sorts of risky insureds. One of our insureds, a policeman with Oklahoma City, as he was leaving for work at 4AM, noticed the dome light on in his new at-the-time Corvette. As he got closer in the apartment complex parking lot, he noticed the passenger door was open. He quietly approached the car and found a guy laying in the passenger floor trying to get the radio out of the aforementioned Corvette. Anger management was not even in anyone's vocabulary at the time, and the very nice, polite policeman kicked the door as hard as he could. Being a strapping young lad, he kicked the door hard enough that it warped around the burglar's legs, popped the fiberglass outer shell off, and latched. When I inspected the auto loss, I found a Marina Blue Corvette that needed a right door assembly. The right rocker was damaged and there was enough blood on the interior that I bought a right seat cover and new carpet also. Many, many years later, this same policeman used to let me fish the pond at the back of his property where he had retired as a farmer. I'm sure the Good Lord is using him in some security capacity. Heart attack while cutting a patch of alfalfa. | | Larry D Hardin | |
| Steve Ebner Moderator Lake Ariel, PA
 Posts:314


 | | 03/18/2008 5:33 PM |
| Vehicle Claim: The insured was awakened by a phone call around midnight. It was his neighbor across the street who asked him if he had given permission for someone to borrow his Mercedes. The insured looked out the window in time to see some ne'er-do-well "youts" backing his car out of the driveway. He and the neighbor got in their vehicles and bagan a pursuit of the stolen car. So this parade of three cars was driving through this development, the insured and the neighbor were on their cell phones to the police. This happened to be one of those housing developments with only one way out, so the thieves kept coming to cul de sacs and turning around. The insured and neighbor did not want to directly engage the potentially dangerous felons, so they just kept following and kept their distance. For about 30 to 40 minutes this low speed keystone cops routine continued until the thieves finally found the way out of the development and escaped with the Mercedes. Then the cops showed up. The car was never recovered, stripped or otherwise.
Windstorm claim (and somewhat appropos this week) Ten years ago, in 1998, a tornado hit the north side of Atlanta and struck a high income suburb (I think it was Norcross). I rolled up to one of the homes. The first thing I noticed as I got out of the car was two perfect 2" by 4" rectangular cuts in the garage door that looked like they were made with a handheld jigsaw. I pointed them out to the insured and jokingly said, "I guess that's not tornado damage." He said, "Let me show you something." He then opened the garage door and showed me two 2" x 4" laying on the garage floor. He then pointed to a dishevelled stack of 2" x 4" lumber sitting beside the driveway. He said, "Before the tornado, those boards were on top of that stack of lumber." The tornado had apparently picked up the two boards and shot them like arrows through the hardboard garage door. One of many times I learned what happens when I assume. | | Steve Ebner
"With great power comes great responsibility." (Stanley Lieber, Amazing Fantasy # 15 August 1962) | |
| Steve Ebner Moderator Lake Ariel, PA
 Posts:314


 | | 03/18/2008 5:42 PM |
| | To quote Bill Murray in Stripes: "It's not the uniform women find so attractive. It's the stories." | | Steve Ebner
"With great power comes great responsibility." (Stanley Lieber, Amazing Fantasy # 15 August 1962) | |
| Mike Kunze
Nebr
 Posts:375

 | | 03/18/2008 10:24 PM |
| This is about an 18 wheeler accident that resulted in the death of the truck driver, but my story has more to do with the aftermath. The driver apparently suffered from a sudden onset of a medical condition just prior to cresting a hill before a huge traffic back-up ahead of him. His rig, moving at about 65 mph crashed into the rear of Semi #2 that was stopped on the interstate and caused a huge chain reaction. Now, Semi #1 was was loaded down with 80# frozen blocks of butter wrapped in plastic, and semi #2 was loaded with whipped topping in aerosol cans. It was the middle of August and over 100 degrees out, so you can imagine the greasy mess that this created. Both trailers split open and everything came out. It was all the wreckers & skid loaders could handle, trying to clear the road way and grassy median and ditch what with spinning their wheels all over. The law enforcement officers, medical personnel, myself, and everyone else all looked like a bunch of idiots trying to keep our footing, and several of my photos had nothing but sky in them. The more the fire department tried to wash it down, the slicker it got. Not much different than an oil tanker wrecking I suppose, but one to remember. | | | |
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