Legal Definitions - covin

Covin

Covin refers to a secret agreement or conspiracy between two or more individuals who intend to harm or defraud a third party.

Here are some examples to illustrate this concept:

• Example 1: Business Fraud
  Two business partners, aware their company is struggling, secretly agree to inflate the value of their assets and misrepresent their financial health to a prospective buyer. Their intention is to trick the buyer into purchasing the company for an artificially high price, causing the buyer significant financial loss.

  This is an example of covin because the partners formed a secret agreement with the specific intent to defraud the buyer.

• Example 2: Insurance Scheme
  A property owner and a building contractor secretly conspire to exaggerate the extent of damage to a building after a small fire. They submit inflated repair estimates to the insurance company, aiming to receive a much larger payout than what is legitimately owed, thereby defrauding the insurer.

  Here, the property owner and contractor's hidden arrangement to deceive the insurance company constitutes covin.

• Example 3: Inheritance Discrepancy
  Following the death of a wealthy relative, two beneficiaries secretly collude to conceal certain valuable assets from the estate's official inventory. Their goal is to prevent a third beneficiary, who is legally entitled to a share, from receiving their full inheritance.

  This scenario demonstrates covin as the two beneficiaries made a secret agreement to injure or defraud the third beneficiary of their rightful inheritance.