Settlement means jewelry shop will give refunds to customers

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho (AP) - An Idaho jewelry shop has won a dispute with an insurance company and a weather laboratory over the amount of snow that fell during a holiday marketing promotion.

The outcome ensures hundreds of customers will get refunds as promised.

Clark's Diamond Jewelers on Monday settled the dispute involving the promotion promising customers a refund if it snowed at least 3 inches in Coeur d'Alene on Jan. 11.

The company paid a percentage of its sales and signed a contract with an insurance provider to launch the promotion, officials said.

Cliff Harris, a meteorologist at a Coeur d'Alene weather station, measured 3.3 inches of snowfall that day, but an Illinois-based company tasked with verifying the snowfall for the insurance company only measured 1.8 inches, company officials said.

The jewelry store challenged that measurement and submitted photos and videos as proof of how much snow fell that day, company officials said.

"In light of the additional evidence we submitted, Weather Command determined the snowfall amount was at least 3.6 inches during the 24-hour period on Jan. 11, 2020," owner Jane Clark said in a Facebook post Monday.

More than 300 people who made purchases at the store between Nov. 22 and Dec. 31 will receive more than $500,000 in refunds, Clark said.

"It's amazing. It's such a huge relief," she said. "We're really excited to be able to do these refunds."