Saving You Money For Life

Las Vegas casino owner Steve Wynn filed suit against Lloyd’s of London in January, months after he accidentally poked a hole in a Picasso painting he owned. The suit asks for payment on a $54 million insurance claim. Wynn contends that the painting, for which he paid $48.4 million in 1997, was worth $139 million because that’s what he’d agreed to sell it for immediately prior to damaging it.

The painting has been restored, but as a result of his clumsiness the sale of the piece did not go through. The restoration leaves the value of the painting at about $85 million, according to Wynn, because you can still see slight evidence of the damage under certain kinds of light. Wynn feels that Lloyd’s owes him the difference between the current value and the negotiated sale price.

“They’ve started to negotiate,” he said to a reporter, before quickly adding that the talks were not going the way he would like. “Their offer is ridiculous,” he said, although he refused to give specifics.

He attacked the insurance industry as a whole, saying it played “dirty tricks” and it was standard practice for insurance companies to delay responding to claims in the hopes of wearing down claimants, and getting them to settle for much less than what they were owed.

“Most folks that have insurance can’t afford the legal fees so they take what they get,” he said. “There’s only one way to stop this kind of thing and that is to go to court.” Steve Wynn – advocate for the common plaintiff.

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.