The "Cop Chronicles" Weekly Feature Presentation
For week of October 15, 2000
Bizarre Twist To "Up In Smoke" Law Suit!
There are many frivolous law suits that never make it to court.
However, a man from Charlotte, North Carolina was able to bring
suit against his insurance company in what has to be one of the
most frivolous law suits you could imagine.
He had purchased a rare and expensive box of cigars. To protect
his investment, he took out an insurance policy against the
possibility that they could be damaged or destroyed. This included
protection against fire.
After taking out this policy, and without even making a payment on
his first premium, this man smokes all 24 rare and expensive cigars.
He then put a claim into the insurance company for loss of property
due to fire. He claimed that all 24 cigars were lost in a series of
fires.
There was no hiding the fact that the small fires were the result of
smoking the cigars, but the man still filed the claim against the
insurance company. The insurance company refused to pay the claim
stating that the insured property had been consumed in the usual manner.
After the insurance company refused to pay, this Charlotte man decided
to take his case to court.
As bizarre and frivolous as the case may have seemed, the law suit was
not thrown out of court. In fact, the judge ruled in favor of the
Charlotte man. Since the insurance company had not defined what it
considered "unacceptable fire" and had guaranteed to insure against the
possibility of fire, the judge had no other choice than to hold the
insurance company responsible for making good on the claim.
Instead of trying to take the case to appeals court and spend more time
and money trying to reverse the ruling, the insurance company settled
the case by paying the man $15,000.
This would be the end of an already unusual case, if it were not for the
bizarre twist of events that followed. The insurance company was not about
to let this man get away with what amounted to highway robbery sanctioned
and carried out by the legal system. The insurance company waited for the
man to cash his check and then contacted the police to bring charges against
the man for 24 counts of arson. The man's own testimony in his civil suit
against the insurance company was enough to get him convicted. By smoking
the cigars and then trying to collect on the policy, he was actually
defrauding the insurance company by committing arson.
The insurance company got it's justice. The Charlotte man received a fine of
$24,000 and 2 years in prison.
Best Wishes,
Jerry Romans
Editor
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Last Update:Friday, February 23, 2001 12:28:45
