Sunday, September 21, 2008

Suing In America... OY!

BEST LAWYER STORY OF THE YEAR, DECADE AND PROBABLY THE CENTURY.

A lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars, then insured

them against, among other things, fire.

Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of these great cigars

and without yet having made even his first premium payment on the policy

the lawyer filed a claim 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!



(Stay with me.)


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, 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 lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance

company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000 to the lawyer for his

loss of the 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 was sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $24,000 fine.