Best Lawyer Story Of The Year: 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, 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 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 ofintentionally 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!!! NO WONDER THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES THINK WE'RE NUTS!!! submitted by a dear friend original source unknown