Delftsman

Lawyer Too smart for his own good

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 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.)

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 i 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 THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES THINK WE ARE NUTS

H/T to Bob for the tale

Posted by Delftsman3 at June 11, 2005 07:04 PM