Is coin collection personal property?

[fertilepress]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Georgia

I recently filed a claim with Allstate for a theft by burglary of items under my renters insurance policy. Several items were stolen including a coin and stamp collection. Allstate is saying that there is a limit of $200 for the coin collection since it is considered money. I assert that since the coins were all sealed in folios, albums, cases, etc., they are clearly part of a collection and therefore personal property, not cash.

Am I right?

Thanks!

Renee

 

[FlyingRon]

As far as your policy is concerned, it's currency. It's a common policy stipulation. If you have valuable coin collections, you need a specific policy or rider. The ANA has such policies advertised.

 

[STEPHAN]

What is the value?

 

[fertilepress]

Thanks for the quick reply. I was unaware of this. The policy specifically states "money" instead of currency and does not stipulate coins nor numismatic collections, as some policies do.

Since posting my question, I found a reference to a case where the judge found in favor of the insured:

Debiase v. Commercial Union Insurance Co., where the court held that the $100 special limit on "money" did not apply to a coin collection. The policy language in that case made no mention of "coins" in the provision containing the limit for "money."

Renee

 

[fertilepress]

What is the value?

A little over $14,000.

 

[Zigner]

Thanks for the quick reply. I was unaware of this. The policy specifically states "money" instead of currency and does not stipulate coins nor numismatic collections, as some policies do.

Since posting my question, I found a reference to a case where the judge found in favor of the insured:

Debiase v. Commercial Union Insurance Co., where the court held that the $100 special limit on "money" did not apply to a coin collection. The policy language in that case made no mention of "coins" in the provision containing the limit for "money."

Renee

(since you're using out-of-state cases anyway...)
How about a more recent appeals court ruling from California that says just the opposite...?

http://caselaw.findlaw.com/ca-court-of-appeal/1840230.html

 

[Zigner]

Furthermore, if you review your policy, you'll almost definitely find (as mentioned above) a limitation on numismatic collections.

 

[FlyingRon]

DiBiase is a New York State case and doesn't make precedent for Florida. In fact, in other state cases (notably Texas), a coin collection was indeed found to be "money."

I'm finding nothing in Florida or Federally that makes a determination one way or the other. A side note: it's that most reference to coin collections come up in divorce suits.

 

[fertilepress]

Furthermore, if you review your policy, you'll almost definitely find (as mentioned above) a limitation on numismatic collections.

I had just found the McKee case and was in the process of reading it when you posted. That does seem to be unambiguous about money, however, in that case numismatic collections are also specifically listed in the policy, where mine only states "money." I know I'm on thin ice, but I'll keep looking.

Any other cases I should review?

Thanks!

Renee

 

[fertilepress]

DiBiase is a New York State case and doesn't make precedent for Florida. In fact, in other state cases (notably Texas), a coin collection was indeed found to be "money."

I'm finding nothing in Florida or Federally that makes a determination one way or the other. A side note: it's that most reference to coin collections come up in divorce suits.

Thanks again, Ron, but I am in Georgia, not Florida.

I've also noted that coin collections also are referenced frequently in estate settlements. It seems in those cases, the court holds that the collections are considered personal property, not money or currency.

How does one reconcile the differences in the opinions? I am not a lawyer.

Renee

 

[Zigner]

I had just found the McKee case and was in the process of reading it when you posted. That does seem to be unambiguous about money, however, in that case numismatic collections are also specifically listed in the policy, where mine only states "money." I know I'm on thin ice, but I'll keep looking.

Any other cases I should review?

Thanks!

Renee

The two cases you've looked at really have no bearing on YOUR matter because they are out of state cases.

You would do best to review your entire policy, because I'm pretty sure you're missing the exclusion for numismatic collections.

 

[fertilepress]

The two cases you've looked at really have no bearing on YOUR matter because they are out of state cases.

You would do best to review your entire policy, because I'm pretty sure you're missing the exclusion for numismatic collections.

I have had my policy for years and can only locate the most recent declarations pages. I have asked my agent to send me a copy of my full policy. Hoping to find a digital copy of my policy at Allstate's site, I could not find it but did find limitations which stated, among other things like jewelry, electronics, etc., the word money. No mention of numismatic collections. I'll be sure to look for that when I get the policy.

Thanks!

Renee

 

[fertilepress]

What if there are no reference cases in my state, Georgia?

 

[FlyingRon]

So you did say Georgia. Sorry about that. It's still not New York or Texas.

Not seeing any Georgia case law that will help you either. There's a pretty good decision however that if you were to take this to court, to get monetary valuation MORE than the face value of the coins, you had better gone through standard numismatic grading and inventorying. Otherwise, it's just a sack of coins. That still doesn't address whether this fits the definiton of money in the policy however.

I suspect you are out of luck. As I said, the ANA warns you that standard homeowners policies aren't likely to be sufficient.

Absent precedent, you'd have to convince the court under a preponderance of the evidence that your collection doesn't fit the definition of "money." The problem is on one hand the law reads things literally. Money in the dictionary comprises coins, paper bills, and representations thereof. On the other hand, if you treated these coins by some legitimate standard as something beyond their pure currency, you may prevail.

Did you have appraisals, inventory of the grader-slabbed coins, etc...?

 

[Zigner]

Let me ask you this. Let's say that you took all of those coins out of their fancy cases...could you go down to the bank and deposit them at face value? I'm not saying you would, just asking if you could.