Client Drags Prestige Assurance Before NAICOM
By Nnamdi Duru
An oil servicing company, Dresser-Rand Nigeria Limited, has dragged Prestige Assurance Plc to the court of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), praying the regulator intervanes in an insurance transaction that was consumated between the two corporate bodies.
Dresser-Rand, a client of Prestige Assurance in a letter the Commissioner for Insurance, Dr. Oladipo Bailey dated August 30, 2004 complained over the alleged refusal of Prestige Assurance to settle a N499 million claims that arose from Dresser-Rand's burnt warehouse in Portharcourt, Rivers State capital on April 11, 2003.
Mr. Tokunbo King of King & Co, a law firm on behalf of Dresser-Rand forwarded the petition complained over the way the insurer is handling the transaction which has now gone sour.
In the letter titled, "Dresser-Rand's Fire Insurance Claim of US$3.9 million Against Prestige Assurance Plc", King accused Prestige of "unprofessional and unscrupulous acts", with his client on the receiving side.
He gave an insight into the alleged unprofessional handling of the insurance transaction and disclosed that loss adjusters' report on the fire incident was still being awaited, five months after completion of the job.
"Our client informs us that they took out an industrial all risks insurance policy with Prestige under policy No.IAR/F/01/00967/1 commencing from January 1, 2002 for a period of five years and that they had paid and continue to pay their premium as at when due".
"Our client's warehouse in Portharcourt was gutted by fire and all our client's goods were completely and totally destroyed by the fire. As a result of which the claim for US$3,900,840.23 was made by our client, being the value of the goods destroyed at the warehouse.
"Two Loss Adujusters were called in but up till this moment, the Loss Adjusters' report is yet to be issued, although Prestige kept promisiong our client that the report would be issued", King disclosed.
The solicitor further accused Prestige Assurance Plc of instructing the Loss Adjusters not to publish the report.
The solicitor was particularly irked by the alleged double-dealing of the company's Managing Director, Mr. Nalam Chandrapassad even as Insurance Brokers of Nigeria Limited (IBN) has made a contradictory disclosure on the claim.
According to King, Chandrasapasad was reported by a national newspaper (not THISDAY) to have said that N350 million has been set aside for this unresolved claim. He regretted that the Managing Director rather than settle the claim as in the report or as recommended in the Loss Adjusters' report still being kept secret, promised "orally, to pay the sum of US$1.7 million in settlement of this claim".
IBN on its part, in a letter to Dresser-Rand's Managing Director dated September 3, 2004 wrote, "attached is a copy of the Adjusters report making a settlement offer of US$1,461,528.39 in respect of the above claim".
Dresser-Rand therefore, threatened to drag the insurer to court if within seven days of reporting the case to the commission it refuses to settle the claim accordingly. He pleaded for the Commissioner's intervention in the resolution of this stalemate.
"We shall be grateful if you coulkd as a matter of urgency, kindly intervent personally in this matter, our client's business is seriously being hampered by the delay in Prestige's non-challant and unprofessional attitude", Kings stated.
Meanwhile, the annonymous staff of the company maintained that Chandrapasad is the only qualified person to address the problem and that he was not in town to respond to the allegations at the time of filing this report.
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