"akheel" wrote in message
...
" JimH" jimh_osudad@yahooDOT comREMOVETHIS wrote in
:
wrote in message
oups.com...
JimH wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...
wrote:
I hope that this is a good lesson to those in the industry.
Lying about the condition of a boat you sell may not produce the
intended results. I'll bet that MarineMax thought that they had
just clipped another pigeon. It looks like the pigeon won the
battle in the end.
Chuck, I know you are in the industry. The title of the thread
seems to
indicate that you think that this was excessive.
What makes you feel that way?
You made a very quick leap from an assumption that the title
"seems to indicate" something to asking me to defend what you
presumed the title must have meant.
"Ouch!" means that for even a company as large as Marine Max, a
$2.5mm settlement, (plus attorney fees for both sides etc that
will probably bring the total to $3mm) is a good sized bite out of
the bottom line.
Unless the judge ordered otherwise...........their insurance company
was left holding the bill. No big deal for Marine Max other than
possible higher insurance rates.
snip
Maybe not; It wouldn't be unusual for an insurance company to exclude
from coverage any damages awarded to purchasers proving blatantly
dishonest sales practices.
Actually not. Unless the judge or State orders/mandates otherwise
they are paid by the insurance company under most standard commercial
insurance policies.
Wrong. First, most commercial insurance policies specifically exclude
punitive damages and damages from an intentional act. In fact, in many
states, it is illegal to even sell insurance covering punitive damages.
Here the judge ruled the misrepresentations to be "deliberate." Second,
the base amount of the award, the difference between what the buyer paid
and what the boat was worth, is also not usually covered by insurance.
That's becasue had the misrepresentation never occured, the dealer would
have been paid the lower amount; to have the insurance company now cover
the difference would mean the insurance company would be paying the
dealer for the loss profit that never should have existed in the first
place. Sorry, Marine Max is most likely SOL in this case. And yes, I am a
lawyer and have litigated many insurance coverage cases.
That was not my understanding as I thought it was a State by State thing.
But I will defer to your expertise and accept what you say.