Posted by PAW Notary Services on 10/21/04 5:49am
Msg #10187

Lawyer Lights Litigation Levity

A Charlotte, NC, lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars, then insured them against fire among other things.

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!

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 lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000 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 was sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $24,000 fine.

(1st place winner in the recent Criminal Lawyers Award Contest)

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

Reply by HisHughness on 10/21/04 7:40am
Msg #10192

This is an urban myth.

Or maybe it's a mythter; I'm not sure of its gender. In any event, it's a chuckle, not a fact.

Reply by BrendaTX on 10/21/04 8:09am
Msg #10195

http://www.snopes.com/crime/clever/cigarson.asp

Yeth, Mythter Hughneth, I believe you are right. The cigar legend ith at the above link.

Stories about some missing children, Microsoft doing a test of how many people you can forward something to in one day, a weird crime committed again women, or a story about a choking doberman which bit the finger off of an intruder are usually urban myths, or urban legends. Do a search on any of the big search engines with "urban legend" and "cigar" (in this case) to see what comes up.

Most urban legends remind me of stories we used to tell each other at slumber parties...however, I have to admit, since it came from PAW, I was certain it was perfectly accurate and did not even consider the legend slant. I'll just betcha he was pulling our collective legs this morning.

Reply by PAW Notary Services on 10/21/04 5:48pm
Msg #10260

>>>>... however, I have to admit, since it came from PAW, I was certain it was perfectly accurate and did not even consider the legend slant. I'll just betcha he was pulling our collective legs this morning.<<<

MOI? Would I do something like that? You betcha!

But it was worth a chuckle or two.