A New York City jeweller has filed a lawsuit against his insurer for unpaid reimbursement for diamonds that he supposedly threw out with the trash by accident.
Babek Yashaya, the owner of Max Jewelry in Manhattan, sued Lloyd’s of London agent Wasserman & Wexler for refusing to reimburse him for the lost diamonds valued at US$864,100.
He accused the insurance firm of breach of contract and is seeking US$2 million in damages, the New York Daily News reported.
Yashaya lost the stones before the Jewish Sabbath in May 2015 when he was rushing preparations for a trade show in Las Vegas, according to a report by the New York Post.
The report said Yashaya bundled four diamonds that each exceeded eight carats and a pair of diamond earrings. However, he accidently mixed the gems with a pile of papers and napkins that were thrown to the garbage can.
Yashaya only discovered his mistake when he was already in Las Vegas. He immediately called the insurance firm.
In his complaint, Yashaya claimed that he was harassed by Michael Tocicki, the insurance adjuster who handled the claim, New York Daily News reported.
Read more: What does an insurance adjuster do?
Yashaya said Tocicki asked for the same paperwork repeatedly and declined to honour the insurance claim. Loads of “documentation frivolous to the investigation” were also requested from him.
The jeweller further claimed that he was questioned for two days and was threatened to take multiple lie detector tests.
“They give me a hard time,” New York Daily News quoted Yashaya as saying. “They know how to get your money.”
Yashaya admitted that he had no invoices for the gems, claiming that his papers were destroyed in a flood. He also argued that he provided other documents to the insurer.
“I did everything I was supposed to have done,” the New York Post quoted him as saying. “This is an accident. This is why we have insurance, for accidents.”
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