A
Charlotte NC lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars then
insured them against fire among other things.
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! In delivering the ruling the judge agreed with the
insurance company that the claim was frivolous, however; the judge stated that
the lawyer held a policy from the company in 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 a lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted
the ruling and paid $15,000.00 to the lawyer for his loss of the rare cigars
lost in the "fires."
NOW
FOR THE BEST PART...
After
the lawyer cashed the cheque, the insurance company had him arrested on 4 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 sentenced him to 24 months in jail and a $24,000.00 fine.
This
is a true story and was the 1st place winner in the recent Criminal Lawyers
Award Contest.