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, the
lawyer filed a law suit 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 a 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.”

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 he was
sentenced to 24 months in jail and ordered to pay a $24,000 fine. This
is a true story and was the 1st place winner in the recent Criminal
Lawyers Award Contest.