Those who play the lottery online and win have no real reason to claim back from an insurance company for thousands, sometimes even millions of dollars. Yet there are many who have tried to with some even successfully claiming back a lifetimes worth of money.
On the flip side, there are those who are deservedly claiming back for their misfortunes. Today, we look into the most outrageous insurance claims of all time.
The case of the $22 000 cat kidney surgery
A cat, that was claimed to be a pedigree (which it was not), desperately required feline renal surgery. Its owner had the audacity to claim for over $22 000, saying that the cat had to be in tip-top form in order to win at a pedigree cat show. Unfortunately, the insurance company dug into this, discovering that the cat was "nothing special" and cancelled the claim.
Rowan Atkinson crashes sports car, receives largest automobile payout
As a British comedian, there is rarely anyone more well-known than Rowan Atkinson. He is also doubly famous for having claimed $1.05 million for crashing his McLaren sports car. This marks it as one of the largest automobile insurance payout of all time and to make matters even stranger, it was the second time Rowan had written off the same sports car. Yet, the insurance company still paid out, despite the delicate circumstances.
A $37 million car accident
Agnes Collier, a 17-year old student from the UK, was involved in an automobile accident that left her paralysed below the neck, and sadly also caused the death of her mother. For these terrible misfortunes, Agnes was awarded $11.5 million plus further millions every year to cover further medical costs throughout the remainder of her lifetime. This alone is the costliest automobile payout in history.
Volcanic ash which cancelled all flights
An Icelandic volcano called "Eyjafjallajokull" erupted in 2010, causing flights across Europe to be delayed or cancelled due to the abundance of volcanic ash in the air. The loss of money is said to have cost the insurance companies an estimated $3.4 billion in pay-outs, as a result of private individuals suing the airlines.
The financial crisis and near collapse of world economies
It was in 2008 when the world experienced a fiscal depression, one of the largest in a century. People lost their jobs, companies closed and many cashed in on their insurance claims in order to recoup some of their losses. In all, it is estimated that over $20 trillion dollars was paid out in insurance claims, one of the largest ever. That is a third of the entire debt owed by planet Earth.
