BEST LAWYER / INSURANCE STORY OF THE YEAR, DECADE,
Treasure State Insurance
This actually 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 Awards contest.
ONLY IN AMERICA . . .
NO WONDER THE REST OF THE WORLD THINKS WE'RE
NUTS.
(Shared by Cogswell Insurance Agency LLC.)
