FAR OUT FRIDAY: Actor Charlie Sheen deemed uninsurable; insurer looking to sue Lance Armstrong for $11m (they might have to join a queue!); and workers comp claimant spotted gardening.
Controversial actor Charlie Sheen, known for his wild benders and strange behaviour, is not proving to be an underwriters’ favourite. However, the disapproving glances by the insurance industry have not harmed Sheen’s chances of work.
In an interview with Details magazine, director Roman Coppola said his decision to cast the notoriously actor in the lead role of his new movie made it impossible to secure insurance or a bond on the film.
The movie, A Glimpse Inside the Mind Of Charles Swan III, stars Sheen as a successful graphic designer in a “comedy of lost love, friendship, revenge fantasies …”
While few would fault the unnamed insurance company's underwriters for exercising discretion, Coppola said he does not regret the decision to cast Sheen, whom he has known since 1979.
As a cycling legend transforms into a legendary drugs cheat, a Texan insurance company is suing Lance Armstrong for $11m.
SCA Promotions insured performance bonuses paid to the American after he claimed his fourth, fifth and sixth Tour de France victories and is now demanding money back from the shamed star.
The company mooted such action at the end of last year, but is now likely to chase it with more gusto after Armstrong’s public admission of guilt to Oprah Winfrey this week.
SCA initially refused to pay out money covering the bonus for Armstrong's sixth Tour de France win in 2004, totalling $5m, because it argued Armstrong was not a clean rider.
Armstrong took the company to an arbitration hearing in Dallas in 2005 and won, because the contract between the parties stipulated the insurance money would be payable if Armstrong was the "official winner" of the Tour. With that ruling changing, the insurer has been placed in a much strong position.
The district attorney's office has dug up some dirt on a US gardener who is being charged with workers compensation fraud for allegedly lying about his recovery from a work injury.
Jose Cortez was injured in 2010 when a tree branch fell and landed on him at work and he received workers comp for his injuries and was placed on minor work restrictions.
The district attorney's office said it began investigating Cortez's comp case in 2012 after private insurance investigators found Cortez working several times in 2011. Both investigations reportedly showed Cortez performing a full range of gardening work without any pain or discomfort.
Cortez was arrested and charged with workers comp fraud and perjury on 7 January, according to the district attorney's office. He has pleaded not guilty in the case, but faces up to eight years in prison if convicted.
