[Don_1 (OP)]

This took place in Charlotte North Carolina.
 
A lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars, then
insured them against, among other things, fire.
 
Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of these great
cigars, 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!
 
(Stay with me.)
 
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 cigars that perished 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 true story won First Place in last year's Criminal Lawyers
Award Contest.

[Karen W.]

Thats funny!!!

[Carolyn]

LOL....I love it!  Makes me soooo proud to be an American.

[Bored chemist]

That's a very old story, far too old to have won any recent prizes. It's also probably not true.
http://www.duckecho.co.uk/closebutnocigar.htm

It's still a good tale though.

[Don_1 (OP)]

That's a very old story, far too old to have won any recent prizes. It's also probably not true.
http://www.duckecho.co.uk/closebutnocigar.htm

It's still a good tale though.

Ah well! There you go, you can't believe everything you read. But after that woman (Stella Liebeck) won the case against McDonald's over the hot coffee, you can find it easy to believe such stories. Mind you, even that story was misreported!!! http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cur78.htm

[DoctorBeaver]

True or not, it made me laugh.

[tony6789]

omg yea only in america rotfl