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!
Gender:
Points: 1823
Reviews: 665