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Best Lawyer Story
Maybe the best lawyer story of the year, decade, and probably the century.
A Charlotte, North Carolina 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! (Stay with me here.)
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 First Place winner in the recent Criminal
Lawyers Award Contest.
Only in America! No wonder the Third World countries think we are nuts :-)
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