How much are your client’s medicinal marijuana plants worth?
Darren Stewart had a licence to cultivate medicinal marijuana plants, six of which were stolen from his backyard in September 2009.
His home insurer, TD General Insurance Company, paid Stewart $6,000 for the plants under the “extensions of coverage” section of the homeowners’ policy, which pays up to $1,000 for “trees, shrubs and plants.”
Stewart took the insurer to court, claiming the stolen marijuana plants were worth a total of $26,000, and tacked on an additional $180,000 for breach of contract, mental stress and physical pain.
Stewart claimed the plants did not fall under the “extensions of coverage” section of the policy, but rather the Personal Property (Contents) section of the policy, so they were not subject to the $1,000-per-plant limit.
Five more plants were stolen from Stewart’s backyard in September 2011, and TD paid $5,000.
Again, Stewart took the insurer to court, saying the plants were worth $19,000. Once again, he tacked on an additional $180,000 for breach of contract and pain and suffering.
The court found in favour of the insurer, saying the plants did not count under the ‘Contents’ portion of the policy, since they were not actually inside the building. The purpose of the “extensions of coverage” portion of the policy was exactly to protect against the theft of plants outside the dwelling, the court ruled.
The Broker and the Brothel
U.S. insurance broker Mark Strong, 57, has been found guilty of 13 counts of helping a Zumba instructor use her studio for the purpose of promoting prostitution.
The married broker acknowledged having an affair with dance instructor Alexis Wright and helping her open the Kennebunk, Maine studio but said he didn't profit from prostitution.
The scandal in Kennebunk drew widespread attention from the media, which reported that Wright's ledgers indicated she had more than 150 clients and made $150,000 over 18 months.
Prosecutors contended that Mark Strong Sr. controlled, supervised and managed the prostitution business and watched the sex acts live via Skype from his office 100 miles away.
The court dismissed 46 counts of invasion of privacy against Strong, leaving the 13 prostitution-related charges.
