Check your insurance coverage…

The following is an excerpt from a blog by The Center for Art Law.

Flaum v. Great Northern Insurance Company.

Lesson: Review the policy for adequate coverage

            While insurance can protect the insured against certain losses, it is imperative to review the applicable policy and ascertain if a specific risk is actually covered by it. As illustrated by the case below, one cannot equate insurance with universal protection against all losses.

            In Flaum v. Great Northern Insurance Company, 28 Misc.3d 1042 (Sup. Ct., Westchester, 2010), Flaum, as an insured, brought an action against an insurer alleging breach of an insurance policy based on the Company’s failure to provide coverage for a painting that Flaum claimed was a forgery. The Court noted that “the language of the Valuable Article’s Coverage clearly and unambiguously state that ‘all risk of physical loss’ is covered under the terms of the policy. Here, however, plaintiffs did not sustain a physical loss. There is no dispute that the painting originally attributed to the famous French painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir still hangs in [plaintiff’s] primary residence in substantially the same condition as when it was purchased.  In addition there is no claim that [this painting] has been lost, damaged or destroyed”. Id. at 1045.  It just happens to be a fake.

 

            This case clearly demonstrates that an insured should carefully review the terms of an insurance policy obtained to protect his investments, in case something believed authentic turns out to be a fake.

Emerald Art Services, LLC now offers policy reviews by art and insurances professionals to assist you in ensuring that your fine art and wine collections are covered for what YOU want them covered for.

Contact us today!