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My Paintings Were Stolen  

Lucky Ambrose was about to retire as a flight attendant with Italian  International Airlines. His retirement pay would allow him to live \\u2014  barely \\u2014 in Barstow, California. On a layover in Rome, he found a means  to retire in comfort while browsing the Vatican Art Museum.  He purchased a disposable flash camera at the souvenir shop and started  snapping photographs of works of art in the museum. Of the twelve  pictures he took two came out relatively clear, marred only by a blotch  of white from the flash reflecting off the oils. They were pictures  called:  \\u201cSan Giorgio Che Occide Il Drago,\\u201d Paris Bordone\\u2019s 1525 painting of St. George slaying the dragon, and \\u201cMadonna Della Pera,\\u201d painted by Alessandro Buonvicino, known as Moretto  Diana Brescia, in 1505.  Ambrose reported a burglary at his Barstow home and made claim for  $555,000. Good Neighbor Insurance Company faced with a claimed loss of  two Italian Renaissance paintings stolen from the bedroom of his  California ranch house thought they had no choice but to pay the amount  of the policy.  They were only suspicious since the claim contained multiple red flags  of fraud, like:  The loss was within three weeks of the issuance of the policy; There was no written evidence that the items were purchased by the  insured; The items were unusual and hard to market while his T.V., VCR and Stereo  system were still in the house after the burglary; and The only proof of ownership Ambrose offered when he insured the works  were the two amateurish snapshots of the paintings.  Suspicions and red flags are not enough to deny a claim. Lucky Ambrose  was paid what he asked and signed a subrogation and salvage agreement  assigning all of his rights to the paintings to the insurance company.  The insurance agent who visited Ambrose\\u2019s house in Barstow testified he  believed Ambrose when he was told that the paintings were inside the  crates. \\u201cWe are in a business of utmost good faith,\\u201d he said. \\u201cWhy  shouldn\\u2019t I believe him? He had paid his premiums regularly for the last  five years.\\u201d  \\u201cIf (the agent) had any questions about it, if he didn\\u2019t feel that  everything was in line before he issued the insurance, we would have  taken whatever steps needed to ensure it was genuine,\\u201d a Good Neighbor  Spokesman testified. The Good Neighbor Spokesman also testified that  when the paintings were reported stolen only three weeks after the  policy was issued, they \\u201chad suspicions \\u2026 but having no proof or  anything to base an assumption that something was wrong, we had to go  ahead and pay the claim.\\u201d  The jury returned a verdict in favor of Good Neighbor for the amount  paid, interest at the legal rate, and attorneys fees.  The state of California investigated whether to arrest Ambrose but  emulated the actions of the U.S. Attorney. He could go have gone to  jail. His retirement plans could have been destroyed by an Italian cop  who knows art better than the agents, underwriters and claims people at  Good Neighbor Insurance Company.  He sold his house in Barstow and moved to Boise, Idaho before the state  of California and the U.S. Attorney had time to change their mind. He  now lives a quiet, and honest, life on his retirement pay in Boise and  is trying to get used to snow in the winter.  ZALMA OPINION  Even a well trained, experienced fraud investigator, when saving some  money for the insurer cannot help convince a prosecutor that a case can  be proved of fraud beyond a reasonable doubt because it is easier to  convict a person accused of a violent crime against an innocent rather  than a person trying to steal from an insurance company.  (c) 2022 Barry Zalma & ClaimSchool, Inc.