An American woman must pay to have her flat cleaned because an insurer refused to pay when her neighbour’s corpse exploded in the apartment above hers and soaked her walls.
Floridian Judy Rodrigo took her insurer to court and after a six-year battle to force the insurance company, State Farm, Palm Beach County court ruled that bodily explosions were not the kind of thing covered by her policy, according to a reported by the New York Daily News.
The neighbour had died of old age in 2008. It was two weeks before the neighbour’s body was discovered, by maintenance workers, and by that time her dog had been chewing on her.
Rodrigo’s apartment was gutted because of the lingering stench but the smell remained. Rodrigo made a claim for property damage cover but State Farm rejected it.
A State Farm contractor is said to have inspected her unit and signed an appraisal award but Rodrigo wanted full payment. The insurer argued that she was covered for specific perils. Rodrigo further argued that than ‘explosion’ is a listed peril and provided an affidavit from a licensed physician which explained this.
The appeal court disagreed, and upheld the trial court’s decision.
