BEST
LAWYER STORY OF THE YEAR,
DECADE AND PROBABLY THE CENTURY
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!
(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 (Arson is the crime of deliberately and
maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas.) 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!
