Best Lawyer Story Of The Year, Decade And Probably The Century.

[Sapiens]

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

Charlotte, North Carolina.



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.



This is a true story and was the First Place winner in the recent Criminal Lawyers Award Contest.



ONLY IN AMERICA , NO WONDER THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES THINK WE'RE NUTS!

[WDCRob]

Re: Best Lawyer Story Of The Year, Decade And Probably The Century.

Cigarson

Claim: A cigar aficionado insures his stogies against fire, then tries to collect from his insurance company after he smokes them.

Status: False.

Example: [Collected on the Internet, 1997]

A cigar smoker bought several hundred expensive stogies and had them insured against fire. After he'd smoked them all, he filed a claim, pointing out that the cigars had been destroyed by fire. The company refused to pay, and the man sued. A judge ruled that because the insurance company had agreed to insure against fire, it was legally responsible. So the company paid the claim. And when the man accepted the money, the company had him arrested for arson.

Origins: This legend began its Internet life after it was posted to the newsgroup alt.smokers.cigars in early 1996, and it has continued to circulate as a "true story" in newsgroups and e-mail ever since, despite its having been identified as an "urban legend" when it was first posted. The version posted was, in fact, nearly identical to one that has been circulating since at least the mid-1960s: [Braude, 1965]

Maybe the rest of the world thinks we're nuts because we believe everything we read on the Internet? ;)

[Sapiens]

Re: Best Lawyer Story Of The Year, Decade And Probably The Century.

Maybe the rest of the world thinks we're nuts because we believe everything we read on the Internet? ;)

I had a good laugh, I didn't state I believe it.

[Spartacus]

Re: Best Lawyer Story Of The Year, Decade And Probably The Century.

Suppose it were true - it would not be a lawyer story per se, IMHO.

It's more about how people will play or game any system if there's a possible profit at the end.

Like the old tale about how a system was set up to reward programmers and testers for finding bugs in other peoples' code. Eventually an illicit trade sprung up with programmers inserting bugs for others to find, with originators and "discoverers" splitting the take.

Like any good morality tale (and most urban legends) this one has a twist at the end where the perpetrator eventually gets hoist by (loosely) his own petard.

[peakishmael]

Re: Best Lawyer Story Of The Year, Decade And Probably The Century.

Here's a similar one, but I believe this to be true, because it happened at my wife's law firm. She was a paralegal at a defense firm and tells me she handled the records. They did a lot of worker's comp and medical malpractice defense. Plaintiff sued the doctor and hospital, because plaintiff had entered hospital for a bunion removal, but due to a records mix-up, actually was anesthetized and received a rhinoplasty (nose job). Plaintiff did not like her new look and sued.

My wife's firm defended on the basis that x-rays, operative report, etc. showed plaintiff had a badly deviated septum and actually NEEDED a nose job, which she had received free. And they showed "before-and-after" pictures to the jury. Who found in favor of: the defense.

In the firm, this was known forever after as the "nose and toes" case. :p

[flintlock]

Re: Best Lawyer Story Of The Year, Decade And Probably The Century.

That's a good one.

[don]

Re: Best Lawyer Story Of The Year, Decade And Probably The Century.

The original story has been around a long time and has the whiff of urban legend. A cigar smoke whiff but a whiff nevertheless....