Hypothetical Comic Insurance Question

[Walt_Flanagan-migration]

Suppose you bought some comics and sold them a few months later. Then you get a call from a dealer who tells you that X books are missing. Come to find out the books you purchased from Y buyer were the ones stolen. You agree to help the dealer get them back, but essentially you would have to buy them back from the people you sold them to. Say the buyback price was $100k and you had a $100k policy.

 

Would the insurance company out?

[Dr. Balls]

I suspect CLAW. This is a job for Inspector Gadget.

[Conan_Aficionado]

I don't know, I think that's called insurance FRAUD.

[miraclemet]

1. Did the comic shop already get paid by THEIR insurance company when the books were stolen? (You didnt talk about a time frame, so Im not sure if the theft happened last week, or last year).

 

2. Are the police involved? Because any insurance claim will likely need a police report, and its best to have them involved from the onset.

 

3. If the thieves are paid in order to recover the books, wouldnt you just get the money back when they are arrested? So no insurance claim would need to be filed. The Shop would have their comics, you'd have your money, and the thieves would have their shiny new bracelets (handcuffs).

 

your scenario doesnt make sense.

[miraclemet]

Suppose you bought some comics and sold them a few months later. Then you get a call from a dealer who tells you that X books are missing. Come to find out the books you purchased from Y buyer were the ones stolen. You agree to help the dealer get them back, but essentially you would have to buy them back from the people you sold them to. Say the buyback price was $100k and you had a $100k policy.

 

Would the insurance company out?

 

for posterity sake in case it comes up later...

[Dr. Balls]

Suppose you bought some comics and sold them a few months later. Then you get a call from a dealer who tells you that X books are missing. Come to find out the books you purchased from Y buyer were the ones stolen. You agree to help the dealer get them back, but essentially you would have to buy them back from the people you sold them to. Say the buyback price was $100k and you had a $100k policy.

 

Would the insurance company out?

 

for posterity sake in case it comes up later...

 

 

No kidding. Good move.

[miraclemet]

Do insurance policies cover lost funds due to goods being ill-gotten? (I seem to remember an episode of Pawn Stars where they discovered a purchased item had been reported stolen so they had to forfeit it and Rick made it sound like it was lost money at that point, but I dont take Pawn Stars episodes as gospel)

 

Also are these hypothetical comics slabs (which can be identifiable by serial number as being the exact item stolen) or raws which are a little harder to verify as a 100% sure thing.

 

Also, why am I bothering to ask these qualifier questions?

[jaybuck43]

The general rule of thumb is that clean or honest title can not be passed by a thief. Now this can vary by state, and in some instances there is a provision that basically protects an honest buyer (say I sell you my Mercedes S series car for KBB price). However New York is tricky with who gets to keep it. If an action for replevin (trying to get the item back) isn't initiated within 3 years generally the buyer, so long as they are in good faith, gets to keep the item. If I remember correctly the Guggenheim case still controls here in New York.

[miraclemet]

...gee where'd Walt go?

 

[Cascaders27]

Suppose you bought some comics and sold them a few months later. Then you get a call from a dealer who tells you that X books are missing. Come to find out the books you purchased from Y buyer were the ones stolen. You agree to help the dealer get them back, but essentially you would have to buy them back from the people you sold them to. Say the buyback price was $100k and you had a $100k policy.

 

Would the insurance company out?

 

Spectacular 160th post! I'm so confused. First the comics are missing, then stolen? And typically you don't purchase books from a buyer? And if you sold them, then you know where they are, and they couldn't have been stolen and that doesn't equate to missing?

[asteroid-comix]

You bought stolen goods and flipped them quick to a buyer?

 

I like to assume best intentions, but the fact that you are attempting to claim an insurance loss and buy "stolen" books back for a dealer sends up a lot of red flags. Let the proper authorities handle it.

[KPR Comics]

Did you ask Ming?

[Conan_Aficionado]

Did you ask Ming?

[Chaseman210]

I was a little confused by the original post, but here is my translation:

 

You buy some books from somebody and resell them to multiple customers. Then you get a call from a dealer, who claims the books that were sold to you were actually stolen from him. So, in other words, you bought and sold stolen books unknowingly. Then the question about the insurance is asking if the insurance would cover you to pay the people who bought the books in order to get them back so they don't lose their money and you don't lose yours.

 

I have no idea on the legitimacy on any of this, but I think this is what the OP was trying to say.

[KPR Comics]

Unless there was reason to know (at the time of purchase) that the books were stolen (e.g., ridiculously low price), you and your buyers are all BFPs and title passed. I don't even see an insurable loss at this point.

[passion4comics]

I would let the original owner deal with it and not get involved more than legally required. I am thinking that your insurance company is going to say it’s the original owners insurance company's problem.

[The-Collector]

Unless there was reason to know (at the time of purchase) that the books were stolen (e.g., ridiculously low price), you and your buyers are all BFPs and title passed. I don't even see an insurable loss at this point.

 

This.

 

A bona fide purchaser for value can pass good title, provided the property in question is not part of some title by registration scheme like torrens property etc.

[slym2none]

1. Did the comic shop already get paid by THEIR insurance company when the books were stolen? (You didnt talk about a time frame, so Im not sure if the theft happened last week, or last year).

 

2. Are the police involved? Because any insurance claim will likely need a police report, and its best to have them involved from the onset.

 

3. If the thieves are paid in order to recover the books, wouldnt you just get the money back when they are arrested? So no insurance claim would need to be filed. The Shop would have their comics, you'd have your money, and the thieves would have their shiny new bracelets (handcuffs).

 

your scenario doesnt make sense.

 

Like so many of his posts.

 

 

 

 

-slym

[Spidey-fan73]

I want it on an episode with a Let's ask Jay segment.

[Walt_Flanagan-migration]

1. Did the comic shop already get paid by THEIR insurance company when the books were stolen? (You didnt talk about a time frame, so Im not sure if the theft happened last week, or last year).

 

2. Are the police involved? Because any insurance claim will likely need a police report, and its best to have them involved from the onset.

 

3. If the thieves are paid in order to recover the books, wouldnt you just get the money back when they are arrested? So no insurance claim would need to be filed. The Shop would have their comics, you'd have your money, and the thieves would have their shiny new bracelets (handcuffs). Arrested, but

 

your scenario doesnt make sense.

 

1. NO. All within 1 year.

 

2. FBI

 

3. You have it all wrong, the books weren't sold to thieves. You unknowingly purchased them from thieves. In other words the books were hot at the time of purchase and you didn't know it. the crook(s) are in jail and cooperating in order to get a reduced sentence. You were one of many dealers contacted in efforts to find them.