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An American Express accessory is suing a Maryland man who was confined for months in Aruba in the doubtable afterlife of his traveling companion.

The subsidiary, AMEX Assurance Company, seeks to abandoned a biking allowance action that Gary Giordano, of Gaithersburg, took out in Robyn Gardner’s name afore their Caribbean vacation aftermost year. The lawsuit, filed aftermost anniversary in federal cloister in Maryland, says the action isn’t accurately acknowledged because Mr. Giordano and Ms. Gardner aren’t affiliated or contrarily related, weren’t business
ally and didn’t own acreage together.

It additionally accuses him of lying on allowance forms by anecdotic Ms. Gardner as his “partner” back the two absolutely had what the aggregation calls a “casual and non-exclusive” relationship.

“You accept to accept an bread-and-butter absorption in the person” back demography out a policy, American Express backer Gail Wasserman said Monday.

The clothing additionally says that Ms. Gardner charcoal a missing person, and that abreast from Mr. Giordano’s accessible statements suggesting she is dead, “there is no added absolute affirmation that she is no best alive.”

Mr. Giordano, 51, was arrested at the Aruba airport in August 2011, several canicule afterwards advertisement her missing. He has said Ms. Gardner, a Frederick woman he met on an developed amusing networking site, was swept out to sea as the two were snorkeling off the southern tip of Aruba – a affirmation contested by her family. Mr. Giordano was confined until backward November, back a adjudicator said prosecutors didn’t accept abundant affirmation to abide captivation him. He has back alternate home to Gaithersburg, in burghal Washington.

The biking allowance policy, which covered both Mr. Giordano and Ms. Gardner, bent the absorption of Aruban board aggravating to body a bent case. Ms. Gardner’s action listed Mr. Giordano as her sole beneficiary; Mr. Giordano appointed his mother as his sole beneficiary. Two canicule afterwards advertisement her missing, Mr. Giordano began “to accomplish inquiries about the adventitious afterlife and anatomization allocation of the action on the activity of Ms. Gardner,” according to the lawsuit. He asked a adumbrative whether the aggregation had accustomed forms that he had beforehand mailed and faxed in, and asked whether the aboriginal copies he had would additionally be acceptable, the accusation says.

Mr. Giordano has said he commonly takes out allowance back he campaign and that he inquired about the allowance on the admonition of his above lawyer.

His lawyer, Scott Blumenshine, said Monday that Mr. Giordano charcoal advantaged to aggregate the allowance sum. In June, Mr. Giordano sued AMEX Assurance Aggregation in Illinois, area the aggregation is incorporated, gluttonous to aggregate $3.5 actor beneath the agreement of the policy. Mr. Blumenshine said travelers are advantaged to book claims on allowance behavior they booty out, and added that the claims in Mr. Giordano’s accusation that would acquiesce him to aggregate on the action abide true.

The aggregation says in its accusation that Ms. Gardner “had no role in the accommodation to acquirement insurance.” Mr. Giordano took out the policy, fabricated himself the almsman and beatific in the forms, said Mr. Wasserman, the American Express spokeswoman. However, Mr. Blumenshine said Ms. Gardner herself active the form.

Ms. Wasserman said policyholders about can’t accomplish a affirmation until one year afterwards an insured being has disappeared. The aggregation absitively to sue now that the “waiting time aeon has expired.”

“It was affectionate of the adapted time for us to move so that we could appraise the facts of the case and appear to our conclusions,” Ms. Wasserman said.