A Charlotte, NC man having purchased a box of very
rare, very expensive cigars, insured them against
fire among other things.
Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile
of cigars and without having made even his first
premium payment on the policy, the man filed a
claim against the insurance company.
In his claim, the man stated the cigars were lost
"in 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 man sued...and won! In delivering the ruling,
the judge agreed that the claim was frivolous.
He stated nevertheless that 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 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 the man $15,000.00 for the rare cigars he
had lost in the "fires".
Here comes the best part...!!
After the man 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 man
was convicted of intentionally burning his insured
property and sentenced to 24 months in jail and a
$24,000.00 fine.