One
day,
you’re
sitting
around
your
office
as
in-house
counsel
at
an
insurance
company
and
someone
calls
to
ask
whether
they
should
pay
a
claim
involving
a
bear
breaking
into
a
luxury
vehicle
or
if,
maybe,
it’s
just
a
guy
dressed
in
a
bear
suit
committing
insurance
fraud.
On
that
day,
you
should
consider
what
life
choices
brought
you
to
that
point.
Because
lawyering
can
be
unpleasant
but
dealing
with
this
case
must
have
been
unbearable!
Kevin
Underhill’s
Lowering
the
Bar
has
details
on
a
California
Department
of
Insurance
investigation
dubbed
“Operation
Bear
Claw”
designed
to
get
to
the
bottom
of
a
series
of
insurance
claims
involving
a
bear
roaming
a
well-to-do
area
of
Los
Angeles
and
ripping
up
the
inside
of
a
Rolls
Royce
and
a
pair
of
Mercedes
to
the
tune
of
$141,839.
The
insurance
companies
involved
apparently
dragged
the
government
into
the
inquiry
as
they
stared
at
surveillance
footage
and
wondered…
maybe
that’s
not
a
real
bear?
Bear
with
me
for
a
second
here.
The
insurance
claims
involved
three
separate
ursine
attacks
upon
three
different
cars
at
the
same
location,
all
made
upon
different
insurance
companies.
That
seems…
curious.
The
government
thought
so
too
and
ran
the
footage
by
a
biologist
who
was
pretty
sure
this
was
a
human
in
a
bear
suit.
That
proved
enough
to
get
a
search
warrant.
Which,
as
investigative
techniques
go,
is
more
straightforward
than
setting
up
a
Honey
Pot.
Returning
to
Lowering
the
Bar’s
coverage:
That
(plus
the
biologist)
was
enough
to
get
a
search
warrant,
and
if
you
assumed
these
suspects
would
have
disposed
of
the
bear
costume
after
using
it
to
commit
three
crimes
rather
than
keeping
it
at
home,
you
must
be
new
here:
Four
people
have
been
arrested.
I
guess,
in
light
of
this
costume,
they
lacked
any
pawsible
deniability.
Insurer
Thinks
Bear
Shown
in
Video
Trashing
Car
Looks
a
Lot
Like
a
Guy
in
a
Bear
Suit
[Lowering
the
Bar]
Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
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