mental_floss magazine
SUBSCRIBE >
GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS >
subscriber services >
A friend of mine is currently on the receiving end of a ridiculously frivolous lawsuit. I’d love to write all about it here, but that’s probably not going to help his case. So instead, here are some other mind-boggling legal actions, courtesy of Deborah Ng at LegalZoom.com.
• In 1991, Richard Harris sued Anheiser-Busch for $10,000 for false advertising. Harris claimed to suffer from emotional distress in addition to mental and physical injury. Why? Because when he drank beer, he didn’t have any luck with the ladies, as promised in the TV ads. Harris also didn’t like that he got sick sometimes after he drank. The case was thrown out of court.
• In 1998, Kellogg sued Exxon because customers might confuse the gas station’s “whimsical tiger logo” with Kellogg’s mascot, “Tony the Tiger.” It didn’t matter, of course, that Exxon had already been using this logo for 30 years. A federal court tossed the suit. Kellogg appealed the case claiming the Exxon tiger walks and acts just like Kellogg’s “Tony.”
• In 2003, Richard Schick sued his former employer, the Illinois Department of Public Aid. Schick sought $5 million plus $166,700 in back pay for sexual and disability discrimination. In fact, Shick was so stressed by this discrimination that he robbed a convenience store with a shotgun. A jury felt his pain and awarded him the money he was seeking. The decision was then reversed. Unfortunately, the $303,830 he was still awarded isn’t doing him much good during the ten years he’s serving for armed robbery.
• In 1996, Florida physical therapist Paul Shimkonis sued his local nudie bar claiming whiplash from a lap dancer’s large breasts. Shimkonis felt he suffered physical harm and mental anguish from the breasts, which he claimed felt like “cement blocks” hitting him. Shimkonis sought justice in the amount of $15,000, which was denied.
Ng has many more stories here. I hope to one day add my friend’s tale to this list.
I read about a woman who successfully sued a grocery store because she tripped over a toddler running through the aisles and broke her ankle. The clincher: it was her kid.
posted by heather on 3-27-2007 at 9:17 pm
IT IS A SHAME THAT WE HAVE TO PUT WARNING LABELS ON EVERYTHING BECAUSE THERE ARE…..IDIOTS…. OUT THERE. FOR EXAMPLE: WARNING LABEL ON HAIR DRYERS ADVISING YOU….IDIOTS…. THAT IT IS….UNSAFE OR DEADLY…. TO USE THE HAIR DRYER IN A TUB FULL OF WATER. I THINK IT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA TO HAVE THE PUBLIC’S IQ TESTED AND LISCENSED TO BE ABLE TO PURCHASE A HAIR DRYER. AND IF YOU ARE SO STUPID THAT YOU DIDN’T KNOW WATER AND ELECTRICITY (AND THE SALT CONTENT IN YOUR BODY) DON’T MIX, THEN YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO PURCHASE ONE! OF COURSE I’M KIDDING ABOUT THE LISCENS BIT, BUT GO FIGURE!
posted by JOHN BROWN on 3-28-2007 at 9:30 am
I work for a large law firm that represents a soft drink bottling company. That company was sued after a 10-year old kid found one of their soft drink canisters, the kind used in soda fountains, in a dumpster. He brought it home and begged his dad to open the canister. The father refused several times, but finally gave in. He got a hammer and a screwdriver, using the hammer to pound the screwdriver into a seam in the canister until — you guessed it — the canister exploded. It hit the ceiling and hit the boy on the way back down, causing brain damage. And the father tried to blame it on the soft drink company because he said the warning written on the canister against opening it up was not written large enough! To this day, it’s the most frivolous lawsuit I’ve ever heard of.
posted by LadyGwyneth on 3-28-2007 at 9:31 am
my favorite thing about warning labels is that in order to be put on a product, someone had to do it. so everytime i read that wheelbarrels are not intended for highway use i can’t help but laugh. picture it….
posted by J Wray on 3-28-2007 at 10:29 am
okay. i just got a great laugh! just the picture in my head of someone out on the highway with a wheelbarrel…
posted by Sarah W. on 3-28-2007 at 4:22 pm
So you go to the 7-11, buy a Slurpee, then drive “accidentally” into a pole…sue for brain freeze!…(No, I’m not suggesting!)…there’s no warning for that one! Surprised you don’t have to sign a release to buy one! Soon, all drinks in the U.S. will be served at 72 degrees!
Speaking of disclaimers, the side of a ladder could make a good vacation read…and it’s only in English (the nerve!)…warnings really need to be in at least 7 major languages to be even barely adequate! Government imposed safety should be equally dangerous for all people!
posted by Dr. Lonny Matlick on 3-29-2007 at 7:26 pm
I think you mean wheelbarrow.
posted by Mike on 3-29-2007 at 9:00 pm
I am definitely not quoting correctly on this one, but I remember years ago a woman sued the company that made her microwave, because she put her cat in there because it was wet and she wanted to dry it off! And I think she won, because there really was no warning against putting an animal in there. She should be sued for stupidity though.
posted by Kelly J on 3-24-2008 at 11:34 am
I worked at Bankruptcy Court in Philadelphia and a man in debt tried to put Verizon into Involuntary Bankruptcy when he was the one who owed them money! Needless to say the judge wouldn’t even allow the paper work to begin!
posted by Mavis on 3-24-2008 at 12:53 pm
This is an actual lawsuit which is still pending:
CHICAGO - A Chicago woman is suing a man she claims flipped her into the air and dropped her on her head in a jitterbug-style dance move at a company event.
Her attorney David M. Baum said the man should be accountable for the alleged injuries caused by “negligent dancing.”
posted by Florida on 3-24-2008 at 2:19 pm
A friend of mine is being sued for several million dollars after a minor accident (not even his fault) because supposedly the other driver stopped being able to get an erection. Clearly there must be a connection…
posted by Colin GG on 3-24-2008 at 5:55 pm