HOW SWEET IT IS

A Charlotte, North Carolina lawyer purchased a very rare and expensive box of cigars, and insured them against fire among other things.
Within a month of having smoked his entire stockpile of these great cigars, and without 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 that 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 to be considered '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 to the lawyer for the loss of his rare cigars in the 'fires'.

NOW FOR THE BEST PART...

After the lawyer cashed the cheque, 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 sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $24,000 fine.

Apparently this is a true story and was the first place in the recent Criminal Lawyers Award Contest.

Strange article... :D

Oh yeah, someone ripped your site and posted it in the website reviews. (Sorry for that being off topic, just thought that I'd point it out to you.)

Hahahaha! This takes the cake! Too bad the insurance company couldn't get a share of the fines, or they would have made a profit. :D

As they say, it could only happen in ....

Actually on second thoughts I'm not going to say that

Originally posted by vSector
Apparently this is a true story and was the first place in the recent Criminal Lawyers Award Contest.
Oh boy, is this still circulating :eek:

http://urbanlegends.miningco.com/library/blcigar.htm

Just proof that despite our geek quotient, PT Barnum won't be denied.

lol that's the funniest thing i read all day!
that's jokes

Yeah, it's a pretty well-circulated internet legend; I remember seeing it in Usenet probably five years ago. The thing is it would only be believable if you've never read an insurance policy, and if you don't know the proper terminology for certain legal issues. That is, every policy rules out payment in the case of intentional acts by the insured ; and it's pretty unlikely that there's any jurisdiction in the US where burning a cigar would fit the legal definition of "arson" -- and it's probably least likely in a tobacco-loving state like North Carolina! :)


You could test this by driving your car into a tree, and then calling your insurance agent and telling him that you did it on purpose just to see how much damage you would do... think they'll pay?