Criminal Lawyers Award Winner
Ya gotta love it.
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 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 $15,000.00 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