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A carregar... Death Benefitspor Michael A. Kahn
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Adira ao LibraryThing para descobrir se irá gostar deste livro. Ainda não há conversas na Discussão sobre este livro. Asked to investigate apparent suicide of partner of large law firm - interesting Aztec artifact involved - ( ) Excellent story. I am becoming a big fan of Michael Kahn and Rachel Gold. In this second of the series, Rachel is again hired by her old firm to represent one of their clients since they have a potential conflict of interest. The firm's St. Louis managing partner, Stoddard Anderson, committed suicide, his body having been found in a hotel near the airport following a four day period when he was completely missing. There is a quirk in Missouri law that prevents an insurance company from not paying out a life insurance claim in case of suicide, but the insurance company need not pay an accidental death rider if the deceased was sane at the time of his death. If he was ruled insane, or not in his right mind, then the death could be ruled accidental so Rachel has the difficult task of deciding for the widow, her client, if Anderson was insane at the time when he slit his wrists. His firm certainly does not want the possibility that their managing partner was insane raised in the press. That might not go well with clients. The insurance policy had a triple indemnity rider in case of accidental death. “If he was insane at the time he committed suicide, then his death would be deemed an accident under Missouri law, and the carrier would have to pay an additional one-point-four million dollars in death benefits.” The case gets even more bizarre when Rachel discovers that Stoddard might have been instrumental in smuggling an ancient Mexican artifact worth millions. I love Kahn’s cynical view of the law. Here’s his take on insurance law: “There are trial lawyers out there—thousands—who make their living litigating the meaning of terms in insurance policies. One of the mysteries of the law is the way that basic words—words as hard and precise as cut diamonds—become warm saltwater taffy when inserted at critical points in insurance policies. Because millions of dollars can hinge on a court's explication of one of the Four Horsemen of the Insuring Clause—“sudden,” “unexpected,” “occurrence,” and “loss”—entire law firms have been built on the legal fees paid by insurance companies, to say nothing of the cottage industry of legal publishers and law school professors that have been feasting at the insurance trough for years.” Benny is a great character who adds a nice scatological and humorous touch, and Rachel has a wonderful no-nonsense view of things. The way she handles two guys in a Porsche who hit on her is priceless. Interestingly, in each of the Rachel Gold books I have read so far, there is a code that Rachel must solve to get to the bottom of the mystery. My only complaint, and it’s a small one, is that there is more mystery than legal drama, but I quibble. Good series. sem críticas | adicionar uma crítica
Pertence a SérieRachel Gold (2)
The smart and savvy Rachel Gold has established herself in Chicago legal circles as a tough litigator, when a case calls for moxie, and a discreet counselor, when a client faces what the chairman of her former firm, Abbott & Windsor, labels an awkward situation. The odd disappearance and messy suicide of Stoddard Anderson, the managing partner of the St. Louis office of Abbott & Windsor, certainly qualifies as an awkward situation, especially when the firm learns that the only way Anderson's widow can collect the full life insurance proceeds is to prove that his death was an accident, and the only way a suicide can be an accident is if the decedent was clinically insane at the time of his death. Abbott & Windsor is, to say the least, reluctant to argue in court that the managing partner of one of its offices was clinically insane. And thus Rachel Gold is retained to represent the widow in what all hope will be a quick resolution of a straightforward matter. But Rachel soon discovers that the supposedly stodgy Stoddard Anderson was into some decidedly unstodgy activities sexual and otherwise. Incredibly, he may have actually located Montezuma's Executor, a legendary treasure linked to a series of grisly deaths dating back to the last Aztec emperor himself. Even more incredible, Anderson may have hidden the cursed relic in St. Louis. With her best buddy, Benny Greenberg, in tow, Rachel sets off in search of both the Aztec treasure and a trail of evidence suggesting Stoddard Anderson's demise was not a suicide but a homicide. Rachel soon learns that she is not the only one in pursuit of Montezuma's Executor and that she could be the next one to die for it! Não foram encontradas descrições de bibliotecas. |
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Google Books — A carregar... GénerosSistema Decimal de Melvil (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999Classificação da Biblioteca do Congresso dos EUA (LCC)AvaliaçãoMédia:
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