A man purchased a box of very rare, very expensive cigars and insured them, among other things, against FIRE. Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of cigars, he led a claim against the insurance company. In his claim, He stated the cigars were lost “in a series of small FIRES.” The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason: he had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion.

He sued and won!

In delivering the ruling, the judge agreed that the claim was frivolous. He stated that the man nevertheless 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 adequately defining what is considered to be an “UNACCEPTABLE FIRE,” and was obligated to pay the claim. Rather than endure a lengthy and costly appeals process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid him the claim for the rare cigars he lost in the “FIRES.”

But...

After He cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested on twenty-four counts of arson! With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case used against him, He was convicted of intentionally setting FIRE to his insured property and was sentenced to twenty-four months in jail and double the amount of his earned claim as fine.