Ex-Tulsa Mayor Sues Insurer Over $4M Lost Ring

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — The former mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma, is suing an insurance company and broker because she says the $4 million she received for a lost blue diamond ring isn't enough.

The Tulsa World reports that Kathy Taylor's federal lawsuit filed in Tulsa seeks more than $75,000. It alleges AIG Property Casualty Co. paid $4 million for loss of the ring her husband gave her, but hasn't covered the ring's full value.

The insurance broker, Integro USA Inc., filed a motion to dismiss the case in which it says Taylor and her husband rejected a policy that would have covered any increase in the ring's value.

Neither Taylor nor attorneys for the companies returned the newspaper's phone calls seeking comment.

Taylor lost the 5-carat blue diamond ring in California wine country, according to the lawsuit.

"While attending a cooking class, (Taylor) went to wash her hands," her petition states. She removed her ring and did not realize that she had forgotten to put it back on her finger, it says.

Taylor sent an email to the Meadowood Napa Valley resort staff on Nov. 6 that says she believes someone took the ring after she removed it from her finger during the cooking class.

"When I returned to my room and began getting ready for croquet and went to put on my jewelry — I immediately realized I had left the ring," the email says.

Integro alleges in its motion to dismiss the lawsuit that Taylor's negligence claim "cherry-picks from and ignores the indisputable documents received or authored" by Taylor that undercut her claim.

Information from: Tulsa World, http://www.tulsaworld.com