Only In America...
Talk about a waste of court time and taxpayers
money!!!! This is the best lawyer story of the year, decade and
probably the century...
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 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. The
Judge stated nevertheless, 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 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 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 $24,000.00 fine.
This is a true story and was the 1st place
winner in the recent Criminal Lawyers Award Contest.
...ONLY IN AMERICA... |