This is probably the best lawyer story of the year.
A Charlotte, NC, lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars, then insured them against fire and other various things. Within a month of 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 insuarnce 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: the man had consumed the cigars in a 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 guarenteed 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 a lengthy and costly appeal process, the company accepted the ruling and paid the lawyer $15,000 for his rare cigars lost in the "fires".
Now for the best part....
After the lawyer cashed the cheque, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of arson. With his insurance claim and testimony from the previous case of being sued 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 won 1st place in the Criminal Lawyers Awards Contest :)
The lawyer was probably very convincing and clever to have won the first trial. Though in the end, the company managed to fight back, he was very successful in getting compensation from them. That's still pretty awesome! Hehe. =)
ReplyDeleteAlecia Longsworth