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.