Only in the U.S. Legal System
Only in the U.S. Legal System
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 16:38:18 -0400
A Charlotte, North Carolina man, having purchased a case of rare,
very expensive cigars, insured them against ... get this ... fire. Within
a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of fabulous cigars, and
having yet to make a single premium payment on the policy, the man filed
a claim against the insurance company. In his claim, the man stated that
he had lost the cigars in "a series of small fires." The insurance
company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason that the man had
consumed the cigars in a normal fashion. The man sued... and won!
In delivering his ruling, the judge stated that since the man held a
policy from the company in which it had warranted that the cigars
were insurable, and also guaranteed that it would insure the cigars
against fire, without defining what it considered to be "unacceptable
fire," it was obligated to compensate the insured for his loss. Rather
than endure a lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company
accepted the judge's ruling and paid the man $15,000 for the rare cigars
he lost in "the fires."
After the man cashed his check, however, the insurance company had
him arrested ... on 24 counts of arson! With his own insurance claim
and testimony from the previous case being used as evidence against him,
the man was convicted of intentionally burning the rare cigars and
sentenced to 24 consecutive one year terms!
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