Sun 2 May 99 5:36
Cigars and insurance.
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 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
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.
... "Come in here, dear boy, have a cigar, you're gonna go far" -Floyd
Return to The Skeptic Tank's main Index page.
MARTY LEIPZIG
Criminal Darwin Awards
___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/Wildcat5! v3.0pr2
* Origin: FIDO QWK MAIL & MORE! WWW.DOCSPLACE.ORG (1:3603/140)
The views and opinions stated within this web page are those of the
author or authors which wrote them and may not reflect the views and
opinions of the ISP or account user which hosts the web page. The
opinions may or may not be those of the Chairman of The Skeptic Tank.