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Dumbest, most frivolous lawsuits ever?

Puppycow

Penultimate Amazing
Puppycow
Joined
Jan 9, 2003
Messages
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Location
Yokohama, Japan
How about this one?

Man sues Chinese actress over her intense stare in TV show
BEIJING -- Rules making it easier to file lawsuits in China have led to a new concern over frivolous claims, such as one in which a man says actress Zhao Wei stared at him too intensely through his TV set.
. . .
Reports say the lawsuit filed by a Shanghai man involves the prime-time TV show "Tiger Mom" which debuted in May and centers on a couple's differing approach to raising their daughter. Zhao plays the big-eyed mother who relentlessly pushes her daughter's development, while the father wants his child to have more freedom.

The Legal Daily said the plaintiff was alleging Zhao's stare caused him "spiritual damage."
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I also seem to recall a recent one in which some person sued "all homosexuals" for making the baby Jesus cry or something like that. No specific person, just "all homosexuals".
 
Lawrence Bittaker, who joined the list in 1993, is a state convict who has filed more than 40 lawsuits, including one against his prison cafeteria for serving him a broken cookie.
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http://articles.latimes.com/1995-11-20/news/ls-5250_1_vexatious-litigant-list

According to the Wikipedia article on vexatious litigation, Bittaker "was convicted of torturing and murdering five young women in 1979". He claimed that the prison cafeteria serving him a broken cookie constituted "cruel and unusual punishment".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vexatious_litigation
 
Three or four years ago, we followed a lawsuit on behalf of April Gallup in the 9/11 CT subforum. Gallup and her infant son were afflicted when a plane crashed into the Pentagon where she worked (injuries).

The suit, written by her legal counsel William Veale, a die-hard 9/11 Truther, was against Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and others for conspiring to ... I don't know, attack in whatever way the Pentagon because, the suit alleged, the Pentagon was NOT hit by an American Airlines airliner.

This alone is quite moronic, but what makes the suit so particularly frivolous is the fact that Gallup had previously been part of a larger party that went to court against American Airlines, demanging compensation on the claim that an AA airliner had hit the Pentagon and the airline didn't prevent it - and they WON, and Gallup was awarded a compensation!
So she first went to court claiming that AA77 hit the Pentagon, and won
And then went to court claiming AA77 did NOT hit the Pentagon!

The case ended with the court fining Veale $50,000 for bringing a vexatious and frivolous accusation, and gross disservice towards his traumatuzed client.
 
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This is one of my all time favorites. A law student sued his law school for making him retake civil procedure after he got a D in the class.

I highly recommend reading the complaint, which you can access here. It is hilarious.

That student is now an attorney. And since I am now practicing in the same state as him, we happen to be on one of the same listservs. He is a solo practitioner now (so he actually DID graduate and pass the bar), and is constantly sending questions to the listserv about his cases.
 
I was chatting with a friend of mine who is in my hobby (the SCA) and how he has often had to do some quickie legal advice for them.

His major line to people within the hobby is:"'Do you think a judge is really going to sit patiently and listen undestandingly as you explain how us not letting you play 'Let's Pretend' any more is something worthy of a court case? "

He has to tell people this a surprising amount.
 
I always thought the hot coffee McDonald's case was tottaly ridiculous until I saw a documentary that showed pics of the burns. They were horrific. I still felt queasy about the lawsuit but understand why the"victim" sued. She was half to blame of course but when you buy something the sellers duty of care does not automatically end. On top of which large companies used the incident to chip away at consumers rights.
 
A friend of mine told me this story from the law firm he interned at. It may or may not be true....no way to verify.

Apparently, there was a plaster cast of a face in their library. When he asked about it, the explanation had to do with a case where they represented the insurance company for a manufacturer of kids wading pools.

Supposedly some guy was on his roof drinking a few beers. It was a hot day, and there was this kiddie pool on the ground, so why not dive in...head first?

I guess he survived but was paralyzed. So he sued the swimming pool company.

It was settled out of court.

He actually told me the story to illustrate that these cases were often not about fault, but who can pay.
 
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