Only in America...
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.
