TRUE LAWYER STORY 
 
A Charlotte, North Carolina lawyer purchased a box of very rare and 
expensive cigars then insured them against fire amongst other things. 
Within a month having smoked his entire stockpile of these great and 
expensive 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 most 
obvious reason: that the man had consumed the cigars in the normal 
fashion. 
 
The lawyer sued....and won! In 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 in 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 a lengthy and costly appeal process, 
the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000.00 to the 
lawyer for his loss of the rare 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 he was 
sentenced to 24 months in jail and ordered to pay a $24,000 fine. 
 
This is a true story and was the 1st place winner in the recent 
Criminal Lawyers Award Contest. 

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