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 file 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.”

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 was the 1st place winner in a recent Criminal Lawyers

Award Contest.
There are so many lawyer award sites I didn’t try too hard to

verify this. I did find it here.