I love receiving reader mail. It comes in various categories. One is from readers who saw a case or story and pass it along thinking it may be of interest to me. Reader tips are a huge help in finding stories -- I certainly can’t find everything on my own -- and I so appreciate those who take the time to send them. [If you see something, say something. I really appreciate it.]

My thanks to eagle-eyed reader Andy Portinga, of Miller Johnson, Grand Rapids, Michigan, for sending in a gem. Not to mention that his cover note included these magical words: “A quick Lexis search of ‘squirrel’ and ‘barbeque’ suggests that this is an issue of first impression.” [Andy approved using his name here, despite the risk – I warned him -- that after an appearance in CO, the paparazzi will now be hounding him.]

In Travelers Indemnity Company, as subrogee of DGR Clearview, LLC v. Pellow, No. 325934 (Mich. Ct. App. May 24, 2016), defendant, Barbara Pellow, and her boyfriend (probably ex-boyfriend now), signed a lease with Clearview Apartment Homes. Pellow’s boyfriend used a torch on the apartment’s wooden deck to burn the fur off of a squirrel. He left the torch on the deck and entered the apartment. A fire started near where he had left the torch. His attempts to extinguish it were unsuccessful. The fire resulted in substantial damage to the entire apartment complex. Travelers, Clearview’s insurer, paid in excess of $2,000,000 to repair damage. Pellow was sleeping during the “fur-burning escapade.” However, Travelers sued Pellow for the cost of the repairs at issue.

After this, the case turns less interesting, focusing on whether Travelers’s claims against Ms. Pellow are precluded by a Michigan statute, that abolished joint and several liability, when she agreed in the lease to be jointly and severally liable for damages. Since there were no more details about the squirrel, there’s nothing left of interest to say about the case.

Alas, this isn’t a coverage case, so it won’t make my 9th annual “Coverage for Dummies” this year. But, this being a subro matter, insurance was still involved in a case involving the frailty and imperfection of the human brain (and, even more so, since I can’t imagine Travelers bringing the case unless Pellow had a homeowner’s policy containing a liability section).

[You gotta be nuts to use a blow torch on a squirrel.]

Thanks again Andy.