Judge: insurance does not have to pay for exploding corpse
May 5, 2014 21:59:08 GMT -5
Post by PurplePuppy on May 5, 2014 21:59:08 GMT -5
Judge rules State Farm does not have to pay for exploding corpse
Posted on May 1, 2014 | By John-Henry Perera
State Farm doesn’t have to be good neighbor for a Florida woman who was unlucky enough to have a rotting corpse rudely explode in an adjacent apartment.
After six years of litigation, a Palm Beach County judge ruled in favor of the insurance company, saying it did not have pay Judy Rodrigo for damages, New Times Broward Palm Beach reports.
In 2008, an elderly woman died of natural causes in an apartment above Rodrigo’s home. No one knew she had died, so the corpse began to decompose until it ruptured and spilled its bodily juices into Rodrigo’s home.
In her lawsuit, Rodrigo attempted to get State Farm to pay for the damages through her personal property damage coverage. The insurance company denied her request, arguing her policy didn’t cover exploding corpses.
The judge sided with State Farm, disagreeing with Rodrigo’s choice of language in her argument, according to court documents.
“The plain meaning of the term ‘explosion’ does not include a decomposing body’s cells explosively expanding, causing leakage of bodily fluids,” the judge said. “In short, although novel in her attempt to do so, the insured could not establish that the decomposing body was tantamount to an explosion.”
Video at link
Posted on May 1, 2014 | By John-Henry Perera
State Farm doesn’t have to be good neighbor for a Florida woman who was unlucky enough to have a rotting corpse rudely explode in an adjacent apartment.
After six years of litigation, a Palm Beach County judge ruled in favor of the insurance company, saying it did not have pay Judy Rodrigo for damages, New Times Broward Palm Beach reports.
In 2008, an elderly woman died of natural causes in an apartment above Rodrigo’s home. No one knew she had died, so the corpse began to decompose until it ruptured and spilled its bodily juices into Rodrigo’s home.
In her lawsuit, Rodrigo attempted to get State Farm to pay for the damages through her personal property damage coverage. The insurance company denied her request, arguing her policy didn’t cover exploding corpses.
The judge sided with State Farm, disagreeing with Rodrigo’s choice of language in her argument, according to court documents.
“The plain meaning of the term ‘explosion’ does not include a decomposing body’s cells explosively expanding, causing leakage of bodily fluids,” the judge said. “In short, although novel in her attempt to do so, the insured could not establish that the decomposing body was tantamount to an explosion.”
Video at link