A lawyer in Charlotte, NC purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars and insured them against fire among other things.
Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of these high quality cigars and without even paying the first months premium on the policy the lawyer filed a claim with 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 smoked the cigars!!
Incredibly, the lawyer sued the insurance company….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.
Although the insurance company were amazed by this ruling they accepted the ruling and paid $15,000 to the lawyer for his loss of the rare cigars in the “fires.”
The reason they decided to settle at this stage was to minimize their legal costs which was likely to cost much more than the $15,000 settlement.
However this incredible story doesn’t end there. Obviously still reeling from the court judgement the insurance company decided to play the lawyer at his own game and reported the situation to the police who arrested him on 24 counts of ARSON!
Using the paperwork from his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case 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!
About the Author:
This article was written by Anthony Woods who is a director of Keystone Insurance, Irelands leading supplier of Public Liability Insurance & Construction Insurance.
Keystone do not insure cigars but do have a sense of humour and felt this story was too good not to share!
