An insurance company has been ordered to pay €25,000 for a ring a man lost when it slipped off his finger as he threw a cigarette butt off a balcony.
GasanMamo Insurance Limited had originally refused to pay for the ring, insured under a house contents policy, insisting that the man had failed to adhere to one of the policy conditions.
But Mr Justice Mark Chetcuti found that there was no negligence on the loss of the ring but was rather a case of “misfortune”.
The court heard how Denis Xuereb was at a reception at the Portomaso Suite at the Hilton Hotel on January 30, 2010. At one point, he went out on the balcony to smoke a cigarette and as he threw the butt down to the marina below, a gold ring covered in diamonds slipped out of his little finger.
He went down with friends to look for the ring for an hour-and-a-half but to no avail. Mr Xuereb hired a diver to search the marina’s seabed but even this was fruitless.
The ring was one of the items insured under a home insurance policy and, according to Mr Xuereb, was valued at €43,000. He filed a police report and opened an insurance claim. But GasanMamo Insurance refused to pay, saying that one of the policy conditions stipulated that “you must do all you reasonably can to prevent and reduce accidental, loss or damage”.
But Mr Justice Chetcuti ruled that all the evidence presented in court showed that the loss was accidental and there was no negligence.
He said the insurance agency had failed to prove that Mr Xuereb did not comply with the mentioned condition, adding that throughout the case the insurance firm was contesting the value of the ring and not the responsibility.
The court heard various jewellers and even appointed its own expert for an approximate value of the ring.
The court noted how Mr Xuereb or jeweller Sergio Zampa, who sold the ring in the first place, failed to produce a fiscal receipt of when the ring was purchased. Mr Justice Chetcuti found this “bizarre”.
What was presented in court, however, was an email sent to Mr Zampa from Italian jeweller Errecibi SRL which confirmed the sale of a similar ring in 2002. The Italian manufacturer said a similar ring would now cost €48,000.
But a jeweller appointed by the insurance company said a ring similar to that of a photo presented in court would cost €23,000. A court-appointed expert valued a replacement ring at €22,800 which the court increased to €25,000, excluding Value Added Tax, as a final settlement for the lost ring.