Poking holes in your insurance claim

The Associated Press reports that casino owner Steve Wynn is suing Lloyd’s of London, alleging “the insurance company [sic] failed to act properly on his demands to pay $54 million in lost value for a Picasso that was damaged when Wynn accidentally poked a hole in the canvas with his elbow.”

Mr. Wynn’s suit arises from his frustration that Lloyd’s has not estimated the damage to the painting and made him an offer.

Lloyd’s says it usually works the other way around: You tell us what you think the claim is worth and we’ll let you know if we agree or disagree. In other words: give us your claim and we’ll poke holes in it.

Meanwhile, as it awaits Mr. Wynn’s claim, Lloyd’s reportedly has already agreed to finance restoration of the work, a 1932 painting titled “La Reve.”

An inconvenient truth?

Lloyd’s of London Chairman Lord Peter Levene recently became one the most prominent insurance industry figures to warn about the effects of climate change. But he is hardly alone as numerous insurance and reinsurance companies study the evidence, and analyze what it might mean for insurable losses in particular and the industry in general.
“Weather-related catastrophes are costing the global insurance industry more than ever before,” he said during a recent speech on global warming. According to Lord Levene, the number of natural catastrophes doubled between the 1960s and 1990s, but insured losses—the majority weather-related—increased almost sevenfold.