|
|
|
|
A Charlotte, NC, lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars, and 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 a 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 a 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".
After the lawyer cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of arson - one for each cigar.
With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used against him, the lawyer was convicted of intentionally 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.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I'm *screaming* of laughter!
That was hilarious! Nick, thank you so much, that was the funnest thing I read in ages. MUCH funner than the Darwin Awards story about that lawyer who in front of a group of visitors tossed himself at an unbreakable window in the law firm's office highrise building to demonstrate its strength, went through the pane and died after falling like 50 or maybe more meters to the ground.
He was described by the head of the law firm as one of their best and brightest.
Omg Nick, that was a super nice laugh. *huuuugs*
Thank you again!
-L
"But he that hath the steerage of my course,
direct my sail."
-William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act One, Scene IV
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Stella Awards are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled coffee on herself and successfully sued McDonalds. That case inspired an annual award for the most uniquely successful lawsuit in the United States in the last year.
The following are this year's candidates:
- Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas, was awarded $780,000 by a jury of her peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running inside a furniture store. The owners of the store were understandably surprised at the verdict, considering the misbehaving little toddler was Ms. Robertson's son.
- A 19-year-old Carl Truman of Los Angeles won $74,000 and medical expenses when his neighbor ran over his hand with a Honda Accord. Mr. Truman apparently didn't notice there was someone at the wheel of the car when he was trying to steal his neighbor's hub caps.
- Terrence Dickson of Bristol, Pennsylvania, was leaving a house he had just finished robbing by way of the garage. He was not able to get the garage door to go up since the automatic door opener was malfunctioning. He couldn't re-enter the house because the door connecting the house and garage locked when he pulled it shut. The family was on vacation, and Mr. Dickson found himself locked in the garage for eight days. He subsisted on a case of Pepsi he found, and a large bag of dry dog food. He sued the owner's insurance claiming the situation caused him undue mental anguish. The jury agreed to the tune of $50,000.
- Jerry Williams of Little Rock, Arkansas, was awarded $14,500 and medical expenses after being bitten on the buttocks by his next door neighbor's beagle. The beagle was on a chain in its owner's fenced yard. The award was less than sought because the jury felt the dog might have been just a little provoked at the time by Mr. Williams who was shooting it repeatedly with a pellet gun.
- A Philadelphia restaurant was ordered to pay Amber Carson of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, $113,500 after she slipped on a soft drink and broke her coccyx (tailbone). The beverage was on the floor because Ms. Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument.
- Kara Walton of Claymont, Delaware, successfully sued the owner of a night club in a neighboring city when she fell from the bathroom window to the floor and knocked out her two front teeth. This occurred while Ms Walton was trying to sneak through the window in the ladies room to avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge. She was awarded $12,000 and dental expenses.
- This year's favorite could easily be Mr. Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Mr. Grazinski purchased a brand new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On his first trip home, having driven onto the freeway, he set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the drivers seat to go to the back and make himself a cup of coffee. Not surprisingly, the R.V. left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Mr. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not advising him in the owner's manual that he couldn't actually do this. The jury awarded him $1,750,000 plus a new motor home. On the basis of this suit the company actually changed their manuals.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
robert bryce
|
 |
Really getting into it |
Registered: January 1970
Messages: 414
|
|
|
Proof positive that America is truely the land of oppertunity........rob.. )
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
OK, well sadly (or rather I should say fortunately) it turns out that those stories were actually bogus.
But the Stella Awards do exist and have their own website at http://www.stellaawards.com
This was last year's winner and is apparently true:
Sisters Janice Bird, Dayle Bird Edgmon and Kim Bird Moran sued their mother's doctors and a hospital after Janice accompanied her mother, Nita Bird, to a minor medical procedure. When something went wrong, Janice and Dayle witnessed doctors rushing their mother to emergency surgery. Rather than malpractice, their legal fight centered on the "negligent infliction of emotional distress" - not for causing distress to their mother, but for causing distress to them for having to see the doctors rushing to help their mother. The case was fought all the way to the California Supreme Court, which finally ruled against the women.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
having done a bit more research I've found it isn't really true. :-[
It appears that the story has been doing the rounds in one form or another for quite some time. You can read about it (and other stories in the same genre) at: http://www.urbanlegends.about.com/library/blcigar.htm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
e
|
 |
On fire! |
Location: currently So Cal
Registered: May 2002
Messages: 1179
|
|
|
I didn't think that many of those could be true, particularly the one about the man committing the burglary. Most states have laws prohibiting a person from collecting damages that result from that person committing a felony. But here's one:
A family is suing the National Football League for damages after their little girl was paralized when she was hit by a drunk driver. Apparently, the driver had attended a football game just before hitting the girl and had consumed 14 beers. The family claims that the NFL is responsible for the injuries to their girl because the league "promotes the kind of behavior that lead to the accident." The case hasn't yet been heard.
Think good thoughts,
e
|
|
|
|
|
Goto Forum:
|
] 
A Place of Safety
Search
Help
Register
Login
Home
OMG!!!! 
Re: The annual Stella Awards 
