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."
***
This is the funny part ***
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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