Charlotte, North Carolina: A lawyer purchased a box of
very rare and expensive cigars, then insured them
against, among other things, fire.
Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of
these great cigars and without yet having made even
his first premium payment on the policy the lawyer
filed a claim against the insurance company.
In his claim, the lawyer stated the cigars were lost
"in a series of small fires."
The insurance company refused to pay, citing the
obvious reason, that the man had consumed the cigars
in the normal fashion.
The lawyer sued, and WON! (so what else is new?)
(Stay with me.)
Delivering the ruling, the judge agreed with the
insurance company that the claim was frivolous. The
judge stated nevertheless, that the lawyer held a
policy from the company, which it had warranted that
the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that it
would insure them against fire, without defining what
is considered to be unacceptable "fire" and was
obligated to pay the claim.
Rather than endure lengthy and costly appeal process,
the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid
$15,000 to the lawyer for his loss of the cigars lost
in the "fires".
NOW FOR THE BEST PART:
After the lawyer cashed the check, the insurance
company had him arrested on 24 counts of ARSON!!!
With his own insurance claim and testimony from the
previous case being used against him, the lawyer was
convicted of intentionally burning his insured
property and was sentenced to 24 months in jail and a
$24,000 fine.
This is a true story and was the First Place winner in
the recent Criminal Lawyers Award Contest.
ONLY IN AMERICA !
