Arson and Insurance Fraud

Blowing up the bar is not arson, and tends to be a lot easier to determine. Blowing up anything brings in the Federal mix of alphabet agencies. Arson tends to be a local crime, investigated by the locals.

Payout would be held pending completion of the police investigation. This could be anywhere from a month to years. If the police report indicated your guy was a suspect, payout would be delayed even longer. Probably your guy would have to file in civil court to force a payout.

We're talking years. Ten years would not surprise me and has been exceeded in these types of situations. Appeals are very common if the insurance company loses. If the insurance investigator suspects fraud, they can be very creative in stalling.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

A fire that uses an accelerant to start the fire will produce a flash, but not quite an explosion. If you like risky, try dropping a match into some gasoline. Very sudden flash, but unless it is confined, it won't be an explosion. Charcoal lighter is a more controlled flash.

If you confine your accelerant in a container, the pressure in that container will increase until it suddenly hits the strength limitation of the container and you'll have an explosion. Take a can of flammable material like insecticide and heat it. You'll get an explosion when the can blows up.

IF YOU TRY ANY OF THIS AT HOME, STAND VERY FAR AWAY!!!

Fires, on their own, can flash over, where you have an explosive like event, but it is not an explosion.

Explosions and flash fires produce markedly different signatures. Among other things in an explosion is a shrapnel effect, in which parts of the container imbed themselves into surrounding surfaces.

Explosives are under the jurisdiction of the ATF and thus Federal. The line can blur towards the center, but usually it's pretty clear which is which.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

I am an insurance claims adjuster. While the insurance company will closely follow the criminal investigation, they will do their own investigation including hiring their own experts, and will make their own determination on whether to pay or deny the claim. Insurance companies are bound by Unfair Claims Practices laws to do a prompt and fair investigation. If they deny the claim, they will likely be sued for both coverage and for bad faith. They must make their coverage decision based on facts and not merely on suspicion. However, it can drag out for years in litigation. I hope this helps.