Story of a greedy lawyer

I wonder if this is a true story or was it fabricated for
some laughs. Anyway, the story goes like this....

A Charlotte, North Carolina 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 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 lengthy and costly appeal process, the
insurance company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000 to the
lawyer for his loss of the cigars lost in the "fires".

NOW FOR THE BEST PART!

After the lawyer 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
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 First Place winner in the recent
Criminal Lawyers Award Contest.