Top insurer gets a R40m wigging from ‘startled’ judge

20 February 2019 - 07:53
By Dave Chambers
Businessman Chris Watson has been awarded R40m after an insurance company refused to pay him for machinery destroyed in a 2011 factory fire.
Image: Gallo Images/Stock photograph Businessman Chris Watson has been awarded R40m after an insurance company refused to pay him for machinery destroyed in a 2011 factory fire.

The commercial insurer of the year went to “quite extraordinary lengths” to avoid paying an R18m claim for machines destroyed in a fire.

Renasa accused Christopher Watson of arson at his Cape Town firm and then stood by as he remortgaged his home, sold his car and borrowed money from his mother in his vain attempts to keep the business going.

But now a judge has come to his rescue.