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By Barry Zalma
The insured had no respect for his insurance company. He expected them to pay any claim he presented. He expected no investigation. Other members of the same immigrant community had successfully committed arson fraud. It was so easy for others. He decided to burn his house down.
The insured thought he was highly intelligent. He planned his arson fire carefully. He arranged for his wife and children to spend the weekend with their cousins in Oakland. He got four one-gallon cans of gasoline from four different gas stations over a two-week period. He stored the gasoline in his garage. He told his wife and children that he would join them on Sunday because he had work to do at his business on Saturday. After driving the wife and children to their cousins’ home in Oakland Friday night, he returned to his home in San Francisco.
Early Saturday morning, he began his preparation for the fire. He removed all of the valuable contents of the house and stored them in a rental storage facility. He packed up all of his good clothing in a suitcase and put it in the trunk of his automobile. He found a house for rent in his general neighborhood similar to the one he lived in. He made arrangements with the owner and signed a month-to-month tenancy on the house. He did not notice that the owner recorded the date and time that he signed the lease.
The insured spoke on the telephone with three of his customers. He visited one to show that he had, in fact, worked at his business of selling imported bathing suits that day. He then waited for the sun to set.
After it was completely dark, the insured removed one of the gasoline cans from the garage and carefully spread the gasoline throughout his living room and dining room. He returned to the garage, deposited the empty can in its hiding place and removed two more cans. He spread the gasoline in two bedrooms and the kitchen. He made certain, while spreading the gasoline, that the windows and doors of the house remained open to ensure that there was enough ventilation for the fire. He did not turn on any lights for fear of a spark. He had turned off the pilot lights on all of the gas appliances. He spread the last can of gasoline around the front entry, the den and the two bathrooms.
The insured did not notice the small droplets that splashed on his shirt as he poured the gasoline.
He made a final walk through the house to satisfy himself that he had spread the gasoline everywhere. There was nothing of value remaining in the house. He stood at his rear entrance and rolled up a newspaper. He lit the newspaper with his butane lighter and threw it into the kitchen. Since the gasoline had been in the kitchen for a considerable time, the fumes ignited throughout the house almost instantaneously. The flash of flames brushed the insured and ignited his gasoline-splashed shirt. Ashe ran from the scene, he ripped his shirt off. He suffered only minor burns to his chest and back. Half naked, he ran down the street in the dark to a nearby BART station and caught a train to Oakland. He spent the evening with his family.
The next morning, he called the San Francisco Fire Department. He told the investigator that he had chased the arsonist out of his house, all the way to Montgomery Street, only to lose him ata BART station. He explained that because he had been exhausted, burned and half naked, he had gone to his cousins’ home and spent a quiet night before calling the fire department.
The insured reported the fire to his insurer the next day. He reported that the fire gutted his house. He told them that he had placed his family in a rental house. He demanded an advance payment to cover the expense of the rental house.
Knowing that his policy provided coverage for additional living expenses, the insured had moved his family into the rental dwelling. It was at the new rental dwelling that he first met with the adjuster.
* The insured told the adjuster: “I came home after a late dinner to find my front door open. I believed that a burglary had occurred. I was not afraid since I had served in the Soviet Army in Afghanistan before coming to the United States. As I walked quietly into my dark house, I could see that my television set and stereos were missing. I heard someone in oneof the back bedrooms and approached the bedroom as quietly as possible. As I was about to see the burglar, I was splashed with something that smelled like gasoline. A dark figure ran past me, and I chased him down the hallway. As he ran out my back door, he threw a match, and the kitchen burst into flames. My shirt caught fire where he had splashed me and I ripped it off. Although I was half naked, I kept running after him, down the street and into the city. I chased him for at least ten blocks, but he outran me. I never got a good look at him. He was about6’2” tall, thin and, I think, black. My chest was burned, I was half naked and I knew my house was in flames. There was nothing I could do. I saw a BART station nearby, so I bought a token and took the train to my cousins’ home in Oakland. My cousins’ house is only two blocks from the station. I spent the night with my family there.
“When I returned to San Francisco, we found the house totally destroyed. I rented this house so my family could have a place to sleep.”
The adjuster assured the insured that the policy covered additional living expenses. The adjuster promised to start his investigation immediately. He asked for documents to support the claim for additional living expenses, including the lease agreement signed by the insured.
The San Francisco arson unit investigated the fire. It found the fire was clearly an arson fire. The arson unit assumed the fire was set to cover a burglary. They believed the insured’s story about confronting and chasing the robber. There was no question that the insured was burned as a result of the fire.
Among other things that he had lost in the fire, the insured claimed over four hundred bathing suits and six hundred pairs of pajamas. He informed the adjuster that the bathing suits and pajamas had been part of the inventory of a business that he had closed down months before and that they were no longer for sale. He said they were used by his family and friends. He had already researched the chance that the insurer would refuse coverage for these items if they were business personal property. He made itclear to the adjuster that they were not business property.
Of course, the adjuster was suspicious of this claim, but he initially accepted the insured’s word. He did find it necessary, however, to try to show the insured’s claims were correct.
His first interview, therefore, was with the landlord of there placement dwelling. The landlord showed him the original lease, which unlike the copy in the hands of the insured, noted that he signed it at 11: 30 AM on the Saturday of the fire. The adjuster questioned the landlord carefully in that regard since the fire was reported to have occurred at 10: 12 PM the same night or 11 hours after the insured signed the lease for the replacement house. The landlord was adamant. He is a meticulous bookkeeper and always writes down the date and time each lease is signed. He also remembered that the insured told him that he needed a furnished house quickly to replace his house which burned in a fire. From that point, the truth was easy to prove. The insurer reported its findings to the local fire arson investigators. The fire investigators arrested the insured. Hewas tried and convicted of arson and insurance fraud. The court sentenced the insured to six years in the state prison.
The insured was not arrested because of brilliant investigation or police work. He was arrested because he had so little respect for the insurer and the police that he covered no trails. He told a story that was almost impossible to believe. He replaced his burned out house before the fire. He proved motive, opportunity, ability and premeditation by his own acts. He was so stupid at perpetrating this crime, that even a novice adjuster would discover the crime.
Barry Zalma of the Culver City, California, Law Firm of Barry Zalma, Inc., is also the president of Claim School, Inc., and the publisher of How Your Friends and Neighbors are Screwing You. He can be reached at (310) 390-4455.
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