Teacher with soul of a risk manager hits insurance jackpot

Donelan Andrews and her class celebrate her ability to read the fine print of an insurance contract./ SQUAREMOUTH INC.

Apparently no risk manager had the chance to buy and read Squaremouth Inc.’s travel policy before a particular high school teacher did.

In January, the St. Petersburg, Florida-based insurer hid its instructions for claiming $10,000 in its Tin Leg travel insurance policy.

The insurer figured no one would be quick to read the section entitled “it pays to read,” which was discreetly placed on page 7 of the nearly 4,000-word document, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

The section said the first person to read about the $10,000 in the section who contacted the company could win the prize if they emailed the firm.

The insurer’s plan was to donate the $10,000 to charity at the end of a year if no one noticed the instructions. But they failed to anticipate high school teacher Donelan Andrews, 59, a self-described “nerd” who said she always reads the terms of such documents.

“Teaching students to read their contracts has always been close to my heart because of my consumer economics background,” Ms. Andrews, a consumer economics teacher from Georgia, said in a Squaremouth press release. “I always read every contract I sign. It really paid off for me this time!”

Ms. Andrews plans to use the money for a vacation in Scotland. Meanwhile, Squaremouth’s planned year-long program ended in just 23 hours. The insurer, though, is apparently handling the situation with considerable good humor.

It is planning to donate $10,000 anyway to a children’s literary charity, Reading is Fundamental, plus another $5,000 each to the two high schools where Ms. Andrews works.