Only in America!!!???


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. 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 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 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 he was sentenced to 24 months in jail and ordered
to pay a $24,000 fine.

This is a true story and was the 1st place winner in the recent
Criminal Lawyers Award Contest.