[Jokes] Up in smoke...

[Denis Walker]

This has to one of the best for a while.

This is the best lawyer story of the year, decade, and probably the
century.

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

This is a true story and was the 1st place winner in the recent Criminal
Lawyers Award Contest.

ONLY IN AMERICA!!