A homeowner used his garage as a private laboratory where he conducted experiments on lobsters and other marine life in an attempt to find a way to extend the shelf-life of such products. Some of the marine life was sold or given away. The garage contained tanks, marine life and other paraphernalia necessary to support the project.

Lightning struck the garage--it was a total loss. The insured filed a claim with his homeowners insurer for the garage and the equipment contained within it. The insurer limited the coverage on the property contained in the garage to $2,500, the amount designated in the homeowner's policy as the maximum amount the insurer was obligated to pay for business personal property.

The insured filed suit against the insurer for the entire amount of the property contending that the laboratory was a hobby, further, that he otherwise had a full-time job, and that he made no profit from the sale of the marine life. Despite the insured's claims, the trial court ruled in favor of the insurer based upon the facts that the insured's laboratory was more than a hobby. He was in fact, an inventor, and even though the insured had not yet made a profit from his activity, it was a "continuous or regular activity...for the purpose of earning a profit or a livelihood." Further, the insured borrowed money for the express purpose of funding the potential invention(s) and gaining profit from them.

The insured appealed the decision. The case went to the appeal court where the decision of the lower court was affirmed in favor of the insurer and against the insured.

(West Virginia Insurance Company, Appellee v. Jackson, Appellant. Circuit Court of Jefferson County, West Virginia. WVaSCtApp. No. 23556. July 11, 1997. CCH 1997 Fire and Casualty Cases, Paragraph 6238.)