Billy Connolly in The Man who Sued God, had his boat sink. The insurance company wouldn’t pay out coz they reckoned it was an act of god so Billy sues them and the church which prompted this quote:
The church can only win if it proves God does not exist.

The church can only win if it proves God does not exist.

By the way, how’s that Italian law suit coming along?

Acts of God are not “often used to let insurance companies weasel out of paying.” What does occur often is that a loss was caused by an uncovered cause.  If the cause of damage is not listed as a covered cause in the policy, well, it is neither God nor the insurance company that did anything to anybody.

More often than not what happened in the cases is that: a deal was struck and a policy was sold which enumerated both sides rights and now one side wants to renegotatie the deal.

Acts of God are not “often used to let insurance companies weasel out of paying.â€? What does occur often is that a loss was caused by an uncovered cause.  If the cause of damage is not listed as a covered cause in the policy, well, it is neither God nor the insurance company that did anything to anybody.
More often than not what happened in the cases is that: a deal was struck and a policy was sold which enumerated both sides rights and now one side wants to renegotatie the deal.

Umm No, wrong I’m afraid Consi. Especially the last bit.  What the insurance company says is ‘Its not covered- look at your policy’.  Why would they describe it as an act of God if they had a perfectly good legal get out?

Acts of God was often used to cover ‘natural’ damage, and could be a bit of a catch all phrase.  I’ve certainly had policies which stated they do not cover ‘Acts of God’. An example was when my mum tried to claim for hail stone damage, to be told that hail was an Act of God (because its nature, therefore God did it)

Nowadays the phrase used (in the UK at least) is Force Majeur.  The change has nothing to do with a couple of court cases that inspired the Big Yin’s film, where the people basically said ‘OK- produce this God then’.  Nothing to do with that.  the fact that the wording changed about then is a complete coincidence- the nice man from the Insurers federation was on telly and he said so- his members would never be sneaky.

How desperate are insurers to avoid paying?

One morning I was in bed when there was a knock on the door.  A man who lived round the corner had turned into my road, and blinded by the sun- which is in just the wrong place 2 weeks spring and autumn- had clipped my car parked by the kerb opposite. He apologised and left me his details.  I had the damage fixed through my insurers. A couple of weeks later I received a letter from my insurers.  The other insurers were contesting the claim- was I prepared to go to court. As I was in bed when my motionless parked car was hit I said yes, and heard no more except for my No Claims bonus being reinstated.  I assume the other side gave in fairly easily, but only once it became clear that I wasnt going to back down.  I assume they must have some do this when they hear court, to make it worthwhile trying it on.  I have seen Consumer Programme reports of some companies always try to deny the first application on a claim, as they know some people will drop the matter.