(Photo by Victor Boyko/Getty Images for Vogue)
Last fall, Kanye West had to cancel his tour because he was hospitalized in UCLA Neuropsychiatric Hospital Center following a psychiatric breakdown.
However, he is now suing various syndicates of insurer Lloyd’s of London for $10 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter. West claims that the insurer refuses to pay for the cancelled tour, despite the fact that West’s doctor and even the insurer’s doctor agreed that he was medically unable to continue on with the tour stops.
In eight months since the canceled tour, West has not been paid, according to the suit, which stated, “The stalling is emblematic of a broader modus operandi of the insurers of never-ending post-claim underwriting where the insurers hunt for some contrived excuse not to pay.”
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“Almost immediately after the claim was submitted, Defendants selected legal counsel to oversee the adjustment of the claim, instead of the more normal approach of retaining a non-lawyer insurance adjuster,” the suit later stated. “Immediately turning to legal counsel made it clear that Defendants’ goal was to hunt for any ostensible excuse, no matter how fanciful, to deny coverage or to maneuver themselves into a position of trying to negotiate a discount on the loss payment.”
The suit detailed all of the steps that West had taken to prove that he had not been able to tour, including submitting to testing by the insurer’s doctor, an accused the insurer of leaking his personal information.
West’s lawyer Howard King also wrote:
Performing artists who pay handsomely to insurance companies within the Lloyd’s of London marketplace to obtain show tour ‘non-appearance or cancellation’ insurance should take note of the lesson to be learned from this lawsuit: Lloyd’s companies enjoy collecting bounteous premiums; they don’t enjoy paying claims, no matter how legitimate. Their business model thrives on conducting unending ‘investigations,’ of bona fide coverage requests, stalling interminably, running up their insured’s costs, and avoiding coverage decisions based on flimsy excuses. The artists think they they’re buying peace of mind. The insurers know they’re just selling a ticket to the courthouse.
The suit accuses the insurer of breach of contract and breach of good faith and fair dealing.
