Cigar Fire!

[Dasiavue]

A Charlotte, North Carolina man, having purchased a case of
rare, very expensive cigars, insured them against ... get
this ... fire. Within a month, having smoked his entire
stockpile of fabulous cigars, and having yet to make a
single premium payment on the policy, the man filed a claim
against the insurance company. In his claim, the man stated
that he had lost the cigars in "a series of small fires."
The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious
reason that the man had consumed the cigars in a normal
fashion.

The man sued... and won! In delivering his ruling, the judge
stated that since 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 the
cigars against fire,
without defining what it considered to be "unacceptable
fire," it was obligated to compensate the insured for his
loss. Rather than endure a lengthy and costly appeal process,
the insurance company accepted the judge's ruling and paid
the man $15,000 for the rare cigars he lost in "the fires."

After the man cashed his check, however, the insurance
company had him arrested ... on 24 counts of arson! With his
own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case
being used as evidence against him, the man was convicted of
intentionally burning the rare cigars and sentenced to 24
consecutive one-year terms!