ONLY IN THE USA

 This is why lawyers and insurance companies are so popular.

A Charlotte, NC man having purchased a box of very rare,
very  expensive cigars insured them against fire among other things.
Within a  month of 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 agreed that the claim was frivolous.
 He 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 is  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
 $15,000.00 for the rare cigars he had lost in the "fires."
 
 HERE COMES THE GOOD PART!!
 
 After the man cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of ARSON.
With his 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 $24,000.00 fine.