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Authors: Don Winslow
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not appear that he has any apparent financial difficulties that would be a motive for arson. In fact, Mr. Muller seems, as much as we can determine from his complex financial records, to be doing rather well in the international import/export market. Furthermore, he seems to have an airtight alibi for the time of the fire.
As to Mr. Abdullah’s claim for his personal property destroyed in the fire, I can only say that I have some personal doubts as to the legitimacy of Mr. Abdullah’s claim that he had (as a partial sample): 28 Armani suits, 37 pairs of Gucci loafers, 52 silk shirts, 2 large-screen Sony television sets, a valuable 1965 Mustang in the garage and an Edward Hooper (sic) painting valued at $137,000. The claim becomes all the more preposterous when you consider that Mr. Abdullah can show no proof of employment for the past five years although he claims to have been making between “thirty to two hundred fifty thousand dollars” a year during that period as a “consultant.”
I think you are well within your rights to deny Mr. Abdullah’s claim, cancel his policy and sever his additional living-expense payments immediately, based on fraud and misrepresentation. Unfortunately, I do not believe that we have developed sufficient proof to deny Mr. Muller’s claim, and advise that you pay him $600,000 forthwith.
If you have any questions, or if I may be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
Craig Schaeffer, Esquire
Ms. Pamela A. Holmstrum
Claims Superintendent
Western States Insurance Co.
801 Flower Street
Los Angeles, CA
Craig D. Schaeffer
Attorney-at-Law
3615 Monterey
Palm Desert, CA
21 July 1983
Dear Mr. Schaeffer,
Thank you for your letter of the 17th inst. and for your valuable coverage analysis. I have only one question:
What are you, nuts?!
You know, I know—and if Helen Keller were alive, she’d know—that Heinz Muller and Sami Abdullah burned down this house. For God’s sake, Schaeffer, Muller had a $500,000 balloon payment coming up. The damn house had been on the market for fourteen months! It was either lose the house or sell it to his insurance company. As to that moke Sami Abdullah, you’re damned right we’re canceling his policy. (By the way, have you asked to see the little bastard’s green card? Let him go back to Beirut and file a phony claim there, see what happens. Don’t they cut off their hands or something?)
Here’s the deal, Craig: I’ll pay Heinz Muller policy limits on the same day a trained monkey crawls out my butt singing “Tie A Yellow Ribbon ’Round the Old Oak Tree” in Polish.
Where are your balls, Craig? I didn’t hire you to roll over like a beaten dog.
Sincerely,
Pamela Holmstrum
Claims Superintendent
Western States Insurance Co.
Craig D. Schaeffer
Attorney-at-Law
3615 Monterey
Palm Desert, CA
Ms. Pamela A. Holmstrum
Claims Superintendent
Western States Insurance Co.
801 Flower Street
Los Angeles, CA
24 July 1983
Dear Ms. Holmstrum,
Thank you for your letter of the 21st inst. and may I observe what a wonderful thing it is that the attorney-client privilege allows us to have such a frank and open exchange of views.
While I understand your reluctance to reward a criminal act such as arson with a policy limits payment, I would be remiss in my duty as your attorney not to advise you to nevertheless do just that.
You have no proof. You have no witnesses. If you deny this claim, Mr. Muller will most likely file a bad-faith lawsuit which could expose your company to a multimillion-dollar punitive-damages award.
Pamela, I know that you are new to this job and eager to impress your bosses and that at your tender age you nevertheless deserved this promotion. I am further sensitive to the fact that, as a young woman executive, you feel more than the usual pressure to show “toughness.” I understand these things. Nevertheless—and again—my best opinion is to pay the $600,000 now or risk having a very large,
As to Mr. Abdullah’s claim for his personal property destroyed in the fire, I can only say that I have some personal doubts as to the legitimacy of Mr. Abdullah’s claim that he had (as a partial sample): 28 Armani suits, 37 pairs of Gucci loafers, 52 silk shirts, 2 large-screen Sony television sets, a valuable 1965 Mustang in the garage and an Edward Hooper (sic) painting valued at $137,000. The claim becomes all the more preposterous when you consider that Mr. Abdullah can show no proof of employment for the past five years although he claims to have been making between “thirty to two hundred fifty thousand dollars” a year during that period as a “consultant.”
I think you are well within your rights to deny Mr. Abdullah’s claim, cancel his policy and sever his additional living-expense payments immediately, based on fraud and misrepresentation. Unfortunately, I do not believe that we have developed sufficient proof to deny Mr. Muller’s claim, and advise that you pay him $600,000 forthwith.
If you have any questions, or if I may be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
Craig Schaeffer, Esquire
Ms. Pamela A. Holmstrum
Claims Superintendent
Western States Insurance Co.
801 Flower Street
Los Angeles, CA
Craig D. Schaeffer
Attorney-at-Law
3615 Monterey
Palm Desert, CA
21 July 1983
Dear Mr. Schaeffer,
Thank you for your letter of the 17th inst. and for your valuable coverage analysis. I have only one question:
What are you, nuts?!
You know, I know—and if Helen Keller were alive, she’d know—that Heinz Muller and Sami Abdullah burned down this house. For God’s sake, Schaeffer, Muller had a $500,000 balloon payment coming up. The damn house had been on the market for fourteen months! It was either lose the house or sell it to his insurance company. As to that moke Sami Abdullah, you’re damned right we’re canceling his policy. (By the way, have you asked to see the little bastard’s green card? Let him go back to Beirut and file a phony claim there, see what happens. Don’t they cut off their hands or something?)
Here’s the deal, Craig: I’ll pay Heinz Muller policy limits on the same day a trained monkey crawls out my butt singing “Tie A Yellow Ribbon ’Round the Old Oak Tree” in Polish.
Where are your balls, Craig? I didn’t hire you to roll over like a beaten dog.
Sincerely,
Pamela Holmstrum
Claims Superintendent
Western States Insurance Co.
Craig D. Schaeffer
Attorney-at-Law
3615 Monterey
Palm Desert, CA
Ms. Pamela A. Holmstrum
Claims Superintendent
Western States Insurance Co.
801 Flower Street
Los Angeles, CA
24 July 1983
Dear Ms. Holmstrum,
Thank you for your letter of the 21st inst. and may I observe what a wonderful thing it is that the attorney-client privilege allows us to have such a frank and open exchange of views.
While I understand your reluctance to reward a criminal act such as arson with a policy limits payment, I would be remiss in my duty as your attorney not to advise you to nevertheless do just that.
You have no proof. You have no witnesses. If you deny this claim, Mr. Muller will most likely file a bad-faith lawsuit which could expose your company to a multimillion-dollar punitive-damages award.
Pamela, I know that you are new to this job and eager to impress your bosses and that at your tender age you nevertheless deserved this promotion. I am further sensitive to the fact that, as a young woman executive, you feel more than the usual pressure to show “toughness.” I understand these things. Nevertheless—and again—my best opinion is to pay the $600,000 now or risk having a very large,
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