| Posted By: RustyBrooks |
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Post Date: May 14, 2001 |
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A Charlotte, NC, man having purchased a case 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 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 man sued.... and won! In delivering the ruling the
judge agreeing that the claim was frivolous, stated nevertheless the man
held a policy from the company in which it had warranted the cigars were
insurable and also guaranteed it would insure against fire, without
defining what it 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 for the rare cigars
he lost in "the fires." After the man cashed the check, however, the 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 fine.
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Votes: 1
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