Nice Read : Heights of Avarice!!

This evening, I have come across this news article which highlighted the greediness of the human beings and different which ways that we extend ourselves to breakthrough the loop holes of the rules, which were meant to be broken.

image source: urbanlegends.about.com

When I searched through Internet, it was listed as "Burned Cigars Insurance case" so I guess it must be popular and chances are that you may have read them already. In case you have NOT, please go through this article which was very funny, thoughtful and philosophical when you read between the lines to some extend :)

   A Charlotte, NC man having purchased a box of very rare, very

   expensive cigars, insured them against fire among other things.

   

   Within a month, 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 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 BEST PART!!

   

   After the man 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 man was convicted of intentionally

   burning his insured property and sentenced to 24 months in jail and a

   $24,000.00 fine.

When I digged further on this article, it appeared to be a Fictional/Hoax which was running through the society for a very longer time as per this excerpt from www.TruthorFiction.com  

Summary of eRumor: A man bought a box of rare, expensive cigars, then took out fire insurances on them.  When he had finished smoking them, he filed a claim against the insurance company.  The company turned down his claim, but he filed a lawsuit and won, getting $15,000 from the insurance company.

The Truth: A little too slick to be true, and it isn't.  No evidence of this case has ever been found and it has been around as an urban legend since at least 1968 when we first ran across it and researched it.

I definitely hope it is a hoax as otherwise, I am looking out for the insurance agent gentleman who was willing to provide Insurance on Cigars!! :)