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Location: Surrey, UK
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 3,814
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joke
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 lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company
accepted the ruling and paid $15,000 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 fine.
This is a true story and was the 1st place winner in the recent
Criminal Lawyers Award Contest.