Insurance Company Refuses to Pay $50,000 Charity Prize Money

Typically uncool behavior for usually unfair insurance companies...

From NBCSports.com:

A fan who made an incredible shot for charity at an Indiana Ice minor league hockey game promotion will not get the chance to give his prize money to charity, because an insurance company deemed the shot illegal. Mr. Potter from It’s a Wonderful Life approves.

Richard Marsh hit the 3-inch-diameter puck an estimated 175 feet into a target slightly larger than 3 inches wide, winning the $50,000 prize in the team’s “Hockey for Heart” promotion for St. Vincent Heart Center of Indiana. Making this an even better ending, Marsh had announced before the shot that he would donate all of the money to St. Vincent Heart Center if he won.

The promotion was sponsored by All State Insurance, but a third-party insurance company hired by the ice arena was responsible for the payout.

That company — which remains unnamed — voided the payout, ruling that Marsh had released the shot over the designated starting line, which was against the rules.

Read the full story and watch the 'unlucky' shot.

Tips from Last Week's Seminar: Handling Your Own Insurance Claim 101

Thanks to those of you who joined me and my staff last week for the free seminar, Handling Your Own Insurance Claim 101. My aim was to outline the basics of what you must know if you have been involved in an accident.

If you weren't able to make it last week, listen to Tips 1 and 2 below.

Tip 1: Remember that the insurance company is your adversary.
Injury Insurance Claims 101: Tips Part 1

Tip 2: Remember to preserve the evidence.
Injury Insurance Claims 101: Tips Part 2

Stars Don't Align for Allstate

Allstate Apologizes for Study on Astrological Signs
By Ameet Sachdev

What was supposed to be a light-hearted look at a link between car accidents and astrology has turned into a public-relations misstep for Allstate Insurance.
The Northbrook-based insurer issued an apology Saturday for a study it released two days earlier that rated the safest drivers based on their Zodiac signs.Its 2010 claims data showed that Virgos were the worst drivers. The insurer found that Virgos were 700 percent more likely to be in a car accident in the last year than Scorpios.

Scorpios were involved in only 1.5 percent of accidents last year, making them the best drivers on the road, Allstate said in the press release. The rest of the list, from best to worst drivers, was Ophiuchus, Cancer, Aquarius, Libra, Aries, Capricorn, Gemini, Sagittarius, Pisces, Taurus, Leo and Virgo.
Allstate said the study was intended to be for “entertainment purposes only”, but people reading about the study online on blogs and news outlets such as the Chicago Tribune took it seriously.

The insurer said Saturday that the study caused confusion “around whether astrological signs are part of the underwriting process.” To correct what it said were misperceptions, Allstate had to state the obvious:
“Astrological signs have absolutely no role in how we base coverage and set rates. Rating by astrology would not be actuarially sound.”

The company also removed the study from its online newsroom.