Best Lawyer/ Insurance Story:

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This took place in 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, 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!

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 lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000 to the lawyer for his loss of the cigars that perished 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 true story won First Place in last year’s Criminal Lawyers Award contest.

ONLY IN AMERICA!! – NO WONDER THE REST OF THE WORLD THINKS THEY’RE NUTS!!

30 thoughts on “Best Lawyer/ Insurance Story:”

  2. Unreqwrited

    Truth is stranger than fiction, so I wouldn’t discount the possibility of a real story behind it. Based on the dollar amounts I would say this is a very old story (my first thought was those amounts look ridiculously low for today’s suits, and not as many people smoke cigars as before so it seems a bit dated). It looks good on the one who tried to be clever and *got burned* in the end. He who laughs last as they say… upmanship at it’s finest! Since this is about lawyers, is there an immoral to the story? 😉

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    1. bkpyett Post author

      Unreqwrited, I love your attitude and you are probably right about this being an old story. The immoral/ moral to the story is wonderful! Thank you for your comment! 🙂

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  4. gerard oosterman

    Glad justice prevailed. I once refused the offer of a cigar but then changed my mind after he went to the toilet and I took the cigar out of its box and stuck it in my pocket. I did not tell him.
    It was a strange thing to do and I have never forgotten.
    I often thought if he noticed a cigar was missing.
    It was over sixty years ago.

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      1. gerard oosterman

        Yes, I did and no pangs of conscience. My friends thought it very strange and wanted to know why I did not simply accept the cigar when he offered it. I think it was because I changed my mind afterwards but was to shy or lacking confidence to ask him for the cigar again. I was about 18 or so.

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    1. bkpyett Post author

      Since M-R isn’t here to keep me in line Sandy, good that you’re able to check these things!
      I loved the sound of it!! Sounded like justice to me!! 🙂

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    2. Outlier Babe

      I really don’t like we neglect using qualifiers:
      “Some” Americans are all about greed. or “Many” Americans are all about greed.

      It would be as if I said “Australians (or whomever) are all about obnoxious, bigoted opinions.”

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      2. petspeopleandlife

        Yes, it is my mistake. I’m not always on my best behavior when commenting for I’m in a hurry and do not feel so hot. I have a heart condition that is going to be tweaked soon and I have little energy. Of course that does not excuse poor writing skills. I’m probably twice your age. Perhaps it would be better not to comment at all and just do “like” as it seems “many” bloggers” are now clicking the “like button.” I’m doing good to get comments written on the posts that I consider worthy of my respect. 🙂

        Yvonne, I love getting your comments. Please don’t think your comment was not welcome. I DO appreciate the time people take to make comments. I do wish you well with your heart tweaking, and may you be back full speed full of energy very soon!

        Liked by 1 person

      3. Outlier Babe

        Dear Yvonne,

        I am the pot calling the kettle. I think we are all–oops–most of us–guilty of over-generalization–I am (typically, about “Men”) and my own reply was phrased quite rudely, for which I apologize. The worst part is, although I’m American, I don’t know that I disagree with your characterization, if we add the “most”. But i also see the influence of advertising/television on the American masses, and babies having babies, uncontrolled hormone-influencing chemicals in our food, water, plastics, paper receipts, etc., and wonder at resistance in the face of such an onslaught.

        The very best of luck with your “tweaking”. And please don’t stop commenting because one cranky American responder jumped down your throat. We should all strive for civilized discourse, and handling oopses is part of that–yes?

        I’m off to check out your blog now : )
        Don’t do many Follows (so much of a time commitment to read them all) but would like to peruse it–sounds interesting, and I have a weakness both for nurses (good friend) and those who help veterans.

        Have a great day–night–whatever it is there : )

        –O. Babe

        Liked by 2 people

    1. petspeopleandlife

      In response to Mrs. Pyett and O.Babe, I’ll wade in one more time and perhaps I’ll offend even more this round. I really have nothing more to add other than the fact that my statement about greed and Americans was used as a generalized term. General is not all encompassing. But for what it is worth, I feel that there is not one person that I know who is not greedy about one thing or the other and that includes the undersigned. Greed can be about many things- not necessarily money.

      With that written, I’ll stop my happy grubby little fingers from tapping. I am not here to make enemies. I like your blog, Mrs Pyewtt because it makes me laugh. I might even like Outlier Babe. 🙂 I have not checked O. Babe’s blog yet, but will eventually get over there for some visits.

      Please excuse any spelling errors. Google spell check stopped working for me.

      ~yvonne

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      1. bkpyett Post author

        Yvonne, Thank you for your comment. I really hadn’t linked O.Babe’s comment with your own. I thought she was referring to the last sentence of my post, which was bagging Americans! Being of the older generation, I’ve not been brought up to be Politically Correct, though I appreciate there is a need for me to be more aware. My husband isn’t PC and I guess I let things slip from time to time. Please feel welcome any time to visit and know that your comments are appreciated. ❤ Barbara

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