Lloyd’s still seeks proof

Press, 12 June 1989, Page 8

Lloyd’s still seeks proof

" PA Wellington • The insurance com- ■ pany, Lloyd’s, says it ac- ; cepts the purported » drowning victim Milton ; Harris is alive and well in • Mt Eden prison but lacks ‘ the proof needed to wrap « up a civil case with his ‘ family in the United • States. ; Harris’s wife, Dianne, ■ and children, Rebecca ' and Leroy, sued Lloyds » because it refused to pay ‘ a $l.B million life insur- • ance policy taken out by • Harris shortly before he « apparently vanished over ‘ the side of a Cook Strait « ferry in 1985.

Mr Skip Masbeck, a lawyer, with Lloyds’ Washington representatives, Ross, Dixon and Masbeck, said as soon as the family acknowledged Harris was alive, or other proof was found, Lloyd’s would be in court to have the case closed. “It’s not that we doubt the conclusions of the New Zealand police, but we have not either an acquiescence by the family or physical evidence we could take to court ourselves,” he said. An admission by the family would be the simplest and least expensive

way of concluding the case, he said. Mr Masbeck refused comment on whether Lloyd’s thought others were involved in Harris’s faked death. He said once Lloyd’s had a court judgment in its favour, it would almost certainly seek to recover costs from Harris’s family. He would not say how much the case had cost Lloyd’s, but agreed the sum was considerable. Meanwhile, United States authorities still have not applied for an extradition order for Harris.