:59:04
Well said.
:59:06
Mr. Havers, you've been an insurance
assessor with Monarch Alliance for...?
:59:10
- Seven years.
- And it was you who came to inspect my boat.
:59:14
- Could you tell the court what you saw there?
- Nothing. It was gone.
:59:21
- It was struck by lightning?
- I believe so.
:59:25
- Did you see any evidence of storm?
- Yes. Quite a bit of wind damage.
:59:30
- Acts of God?
- I couldn't say.
:59:33
I see.
Yet my boat was sunk by an 'Act of God'?
:59:37
It looked very much like it,
but it's not me who decides.
:59:41
This committee employed by your company to
decide these matters, they'd be religious experts?
:59:46
- Not necessarily.
- But they're experts in acts of God?
:59:51
- Aren't they priests or theologians?
- No, it doesn't work that way.
:59:58
- Mr. Piggott, you're the general manager
and chief executive of Monarch Alliance?
1:00:04
Correct.
1:00:05
Would you explain to the court the purpose behind
the 'Act of God' clause in insurance policies?
1:00:10
The purpose is to protect
the vast majority of policyholders
1:00:15
against occasional calamities
that may befall the few.
1:00:20
- Does it mean that God caused the event?
- Heavens, no. Although he may have for all we know.
1:00:26
- It's a figure of speech.
- Like 'out on a limb'?
1:00:30
Or 'away with the fairies'.
1:00:36
- It's not to be taken literally?
- Absolutely not.
1:00:44
Consumatum est.
1:00:48
- Thank you, Mr. Piggott.
- Why don't we call things by their real name?
1:00:52
An act of storm, an act of weather,
an act of lightning.
1:00:56
The names of the things that have
ruined the lives of my co-plaintiffs.