Remember Stella Liebeck who was burned by a hot McDonald’s coffee and was awarded $2.9 million? For a long time, she was the poster girl for ridiculous lawsuits. The case shocked the world at the time, but frivolous lawsuits have become common since then.
In today’s litigious environment, some cases stand out because they are so absurd. 24/7 Tempo searched online archives of various news sites to find 25 examples.
Living in a country with a well-established judicial system offers an opportunity to use the courts to achieve justice for whatever wrongs people see. While most cases have merit, sometimes the wrongs being sued are not what most people would consider to be unjust. The downside is that some such lawsuits end up being material for late-night comedians.
From a kidnapper suing his victims for failing to help him escape the authorities to people suing for being misled that a sugary snack has a lot of sugar, there are many bizarre lawsuits that many may not believe are real. You be the judge of whether they have merit.
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To identify some of the weirdest lawsuits filed in recent history, 24/7 Tempo searched online news archives of various sites, including CNN, Reuters, and NBC. We selected lawsuits that stemmed from what most people would describe as minor inconveniences.
Some of the cases on the list concern marketing claims that have been taken either out of context or too literally. Others are just bizarre, and most people would think they are not even real.
Man wants to legally change his age
• Year: 2018
• Result: Plaintiff lost
A 69-year-old Dutchman wanted to legally change his age in order to avoid ageism. Emile Ratelband claimed he felt discriminated against because his real age was affecting his job prospects as well as his chances of success on Tinder, a popular dating app. The judge explained that many rights and obligations are age-based, and that changing the legal age could cause many complications.
Woman shocked jelly beans contain sugar
• Year: 2017
• Result: Case dismissed
Sugar has 61 different names, so it stands to reason that some people may not recognize the ingredient when reading nutrition labels. This happened to a California woman, who sued jelly beans maker Jelly Belly for using the term “evaporated cane juice” instead of the word “sugar” in its jelly beans’ food label. Jessica Gomez of San Bernadino County alleged fraud, claiming the company was misleading consumers about how much sugar the snack actually contained – even though the total grams of sugar per serving was clearly displayed. The case was dismissed.
Man sues date for being on her phone
• Year: 2017
• Result: Lawsuit dropped
Many people have a story about a date gone wrong, but most would forget about the whole ordeal as soon as it was over. A 37-year-old from Austin, Texas, however, could not let go of his bad experience and sued his date. He was so offended that his date spent the time they were at the movies watching “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2” texting on her phone. He claimed her behavior was breaking theater rules and affected his movie-watching experience. She agreed to pay him the $17.31 for her cinema ticket, if he left her alone. Soon after he withdrew the lawsuit.
Footlong sandwich is not a foot long
• Year: 2016
• Result: Case was settled
It started in 2013, when a teenager measured his Subway footlong sandwich. It turned out to be only 11 inches, an inch too short. Fast forward three years, and the company was settling a class-action lawsuit in court, promising to make its rolls 12 inches. The only people to benefit from the lawsuit were the attorneys, who were about to receive $520,000 in fees. The judge agreed with activist and legal writer Theodore Frank that this was not fair and dismissed the settlement and the entire case.
Empty space in Junior Mints boxes
• Year: 2018
• Result: Case dismissed
Biola Daniel and Abel Duran of New York and Trekeela Perkins from Mississippi believed Tootsie Roll Industries Inc tricked people by underfilling Junior Mints boxes. They sued the company because more than a third of the mints’ box was empty. The judge who dismissed the case wrote in a 44-page decision that a reasonable customer can expect some empty space.
Customers disappointed that Red Bull did not energize them
• Year: 2016
• Result: Settled out of court
Red Bull’s famous slogan “Red Bull gives you wings” got the company in some trouble. A class-action lawsuit accused the company of having misleading ads and making false claims. Plaintiffs said the energy drink did not give people wings, even figuratively speaking, that is, they didn’t feel energized. They said the company lacked evidence to claim the beverage could improve one’s focus. Red Bull settled out of court and agreed to pay $640,000.
Is firefighter’s fear of fire a disability?
• Year: 2014
• Result: Plaintiff lost
Shayn Proler from the Houston Fire Department is afraid of fire. He was reassigned to an office position so he would not have to come in direct contact with what scared him, but he wanted to remain in his former job in the fire suppression unit. He claimed his fear was a disability and that he was discriminated against because of his disability. His case made it to the Texas Supreme Court, which ruled there was no evidence Proler was discriminated against on account of a disability.
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Kidnapper sues hostages for escaping
• Year: 2012
• Result: Lawsuit dismissed
Jesse Dimmick, a fugitive facing a murder charge, kidnapped a Kansas couple in September 2009. At some point he fell asleep and they escaped. They sued Dimmick for over $75,000 in damages. His response was to countersue for breach of contract. He claimed he and the couple had a legally binding oral agreement for them to hide him from the police. His case was dismissed.
Same price for a burger with and without cheese
• Year: 2018
• Result: Lawsuit dismissed
Two McDonald’s customers from Florida sued the fast-food chain for $5 million because they were made to pay for a Quarter Pounder sandwich without cheese the same price as the sandwich with cheese (the difference is about 30 cents). A judge dismissed the case with prejudice, which means they can’t file the suit again. The basis for the dismissal was that the plaintiffs could not prove the price they had to pay caused them any harm.
Husband sues wife over ‘ugly’ baby
• Year: 2012
• Result: Plaintiff won
Boy meets a pretty girl, boy marries the girl; they have kids. One similar tale did not have such a happy ending, however. Jian Feng from China saw his newborn daughter, who, he said, was “incredibly ugly” and did not look like either parent. He accused his wife of cheating on him. At that point, she admitted she had several plastic surgeries before they had met. He sued on the grounds of false pretenses, claiming she misled him by hiding her cosmetic history. He won the case, and his wife was made to pay him more than $120,000.
Woman blames ‘scary’ poster on falling
• Year: 2015
• Result: Plaintiff lost
A woman from New York said she fell down the stairs at the Grand Central subway station, injuring her foot and ankle, after seeing an oversized “scary” poster for the popular Showtime series “Dexter.” The poster showed the face of the main character under a plastic wrap with his eyes open. She claimed it was “disturbing, provocative, shocking and fear inducing.” The judge disagreed, dismissing the case, saying the network was under no obligation to maintain the stairs at the station or that it created a dangerous condition.
Drinking beer does not make fantasies come true?
• Year: 1993
• Result: Plaintiff lost
Beer commercials often feature beaches and good-looking men and women having fun. Most people understand this is not real, but not Richard Overton. In 1993, he sued Anheuser-Busch for $10,000 for false advertising. He claimed the beer ad caused him emotional distress, mental injury, and financial loss. Overton said the company’s ads showed beer’s ability to enable “scenic tropical settings [and] beautiful women and men engaged in unrestricted merriment” when this was actually not the case. He lost the suit.
Lawsuit over using just 75% of lip balm tube
• Year: 2016
• Result: Case dismissed
You can’t get that last bit of lip balm out of the tube unless you scrape it out. While this has been true since lip balms have been sold in tubes, a California woman filed a lawsuit alleging consumers were conned into thinking they could reach the bottom with their lips when they can actually use just about 75% of the product. The court disagreed that Fresh Inc., the company being sued, tried to lie about the real quantity of its lip balm and that a reasonable consumer understands how such dispenser tubes work.
Man sues Michael Jordan for looking too much like him
• Year: 2006
• Result: Lawsuit dropped
Many people would be happy if they looked like a celebrity, unless that celebrity was as famous and loved as Michael Jordan. Allen Ray Heckard from Portland sued the basketball legend and Nike for promoting Jordan for more than $800 million. He claims he has been confused for Jordan every day in the last 15 years, and that it has caused him permanent injury and emotional pain and suffering. Heckard later dropped the charges without giving a reason.
Man sues himself for $5 million
• Year: 1995
• Result: Case dismissed
Prison inmate Robert Lee Brock is nothing if not creative. Brock, serving time for breaking and entering at the Indian Creek Correctional Center in Virginia, sued himself for $5 million, claiming that he violated his religious beliefs and got himself arrested. And since he has no income because he is in jail, Brock asked the state to pay as he was a ward of the state. The judge dismissed the case.
Chicken sandwich out of stock
• Year: 2019
• Result: Trial pending
A Tennessee man sued fast food chain Popeyes Louisiana Chicken for $5,000 for running out of its famous chicken sandwich because, he claimed, the restaurant wasted his time trying to fill his order. Craig Barr said the company deceptively advertised the sandwich, which was only available for a limited time in August. Barr is also suing for damages to his car that he said occurred at the restaurant’s parking lot. The case was scheduled to go to court in January.
Too much ice in Starbucks drinks
• Year: 2016
• Result: Case dismissed
California resident Alexander Forouzesh threatened a class action against Starbucks, saying customers who ordered cold drinks from the beverage giant received less liquid in their cups than advertised because of too much ice. A district judge put the case on ice. He ruled that even kids know ice in a cup reduces the amount of liquid they get, and customers can also clearly see the amount of ice in a clear cup and ask for less ice.
Man claims Uber ruined his marriage
• Year: 2017
• Result: Unknown
A French businessman sued Uber for $48 million, claiming that a flaw in the ride-sharing company’s app played a role in the dissolution of his marriage. The businessman said he borrowed his wife’s cell phone and used it to log on to the Uber app. He claimed a glitch in the app caused it to continue to send notifications of his whereabouts to his wife’s phone even after he logged off, and apparently some of his movements caused a problem with wife and their marriage ended in divorce. The result of the suit is unknown.
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Mom confiscates son’s phone
• Year: 2017
• Result: Plaintiff lost
A 15-year-old boy in Spain sued his mother, claiming he was mistreated after she took his cellphone to try and get him to study. He also sought jail time for his mom and reimbursement for his legal expenses. A judge ruled in favor of the mother, saying she was within her rights and acted responsibly to get her son to crack the books.
Trespassers sue property owners
• Year: 2002
• Result: Plaintiff won
A federal jury awarded two men a total of $24.2 million for getting severely burned by electrical wires when they were teenagers trespassing on railroad property in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 2002. Attorneys for Amtrak and Norfolk Southern Corp. claimed the two men, aged 17 at the time of the accident, were old enough to know that they were putting themselves in danger. The plaintiffs’ lawyer, while conceding his clients were trespassers, said the property owners were still responsible.
Man sues dry cleaners breaking ‘Satisfaction Guaranteed’ promise
• Year: 2007
• Result: Plaintiff lost
A court ruled against the dissatisfied customer of a Washington, D.C. dry cleaner – who sued the dry cleaner for $54 million for allegedly misplacing his pants – and ordered him to pay the company its legal fees. The customer, administrative law judge Roy Pearson, also could not prove the store lost his pants. Pearson’s suit was based on the claim that the store’s sign said “Satisfaction Guaranteed.” The case drew national attention as well as sympathy for the defendants, who received funds online for their defense.
City of Batman vs. Superhero Batman
• Year: 2008
• Result: Lawsuit never filed
Holy litigation! In a story worthy of Gotham City tabloids, the mayor of Batman, the name of an oil-producing city in southeastern Turkey, said he would sue Warner Bros. and movie director Christopher Nolan for using the name of the Turkish city without permission for the film “The Dark Knight.” The city’s mayor, Hüseyin Kalkan, wanted compensation from the movie’s royalties, claiming the movie’s success had negative psychological effects on the city’s residents and hurt local businesses trying to register in other countries. The lawsuit, however, was never actually filed.
Sleeping student sues teacher for waking him up
• Year: 2008
• Result: Case dismissed
The parents of Danbury High School student Vinicios Robacher said their son suffered hearing loss after one of his teachers slammed her hand on his desk to wake him up during a math class. The family sued the school, the school board, and the city. But apparently the case fell on deaf ears and collapsed.
Woman sues for false weather prediction
• Year: 1996
• Result: Settled out of court
A woman from the Israeli city of Haifa sued well-known television weatherman Danny Rup for a false weather forecast. Rup had predicted sunny weather and it rained. Based on the forecast, she left her house unprepared for inclement weather, took ill, and missed work – she claimed. The woman said Rup’s forecasts were legally binding. She won $1,000 in an out-of-court settlement and got an apology from the weatherman.
Student sues for A+
• Year: 2003
• Result: Plaintiff lost
Brian Delekta was a senior at Memphis High School in Michigan and believed his work experience as a paralegal at his mother’s law office for one of his classes merited an A+ instead of an A. His family sued to raise the grade to A+, which would have made him valedictorian of his class. The suit also asked that publication of class rankings be blocked until the case was settled. The plaintiff lost.
24/7 Wall Street is a USA TODAY content partner offering financial news and commentary. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.
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