6 Most Ridiculous American Lawsuits in Modern History
There's a story in the news this week about a woman in Albany that is suing a grocery store for $35,000 because the pie she bought was mislabeled.
Tiffany Brady claims she felt "angry" and "betrayed" after she purchased and consumed what she thought was an apple pie at a ShopRite grocery store. It turns out, the pie was labeled incorrectly and was actually a cherry pie.
She's suing because she says in the lawsuit, she and her family “strongly dislike and have sensitivities and allergies to cherry pie,” according to the suit. The Post reports that “Aside from her child’s sickness, Plaintiff suffered monetary and non-monetary damages and was caused to feel guilty, helpless, ashamed, angry, betrayed, and stressed,” according to the lawsuit.
This suit inspired me to search for 5 other "ridiculous" and "frivolous" lawsuits and this cherry pie story will serve as my number 6.
By the way, according to Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute, here's the definition of a frivolous lawsuit:
A frivolous claim, often called a bad faith claim, refers to a lawsuit, motion or appeal that is intended to harass, delay or embarrass the opposition.
A claim is frivolous when the claim lacks any arguable basis either in law or in fact Neitze v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 325 (1989). That means, in a frivolous claim, either: “(1) "the 'factual contentions are clearly baseless,' such as when allegations are the product of delusion or fantasy;" or (2) "the claim is 'based on an indisputably meritless legal theory.'" Livingston v. Adirondack Beverage Co., 141 F.3d 434, 437 (2d Cir. 1998).
5. Rosenberg vs. Harwood and Google
Lauren Rosenberg was using Google's walking directions when the map took her onto a busy highway, where she was ultimately struck by a car driven by Patrick Harwood. Rosenberg sued Google and Harwood for $100,000, even though she wasn't injured in the accident. The judge threw out the case.
4. Dangerous Breasts
Paul Shimkonis visited a nude strip club. He sued because while getting a lap dance from one of the strippers, he said her large breasts hit him in the head and gave him whiplash. His request for $15,000 in damages were rejected by the judge, who "stripped" his claim from the docket.
3. Money and PETA vs. Photographer
PETA, the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals, helped a monkey sue a photographer in San Francisco after he gave a macaque monkey his camera, and the monkey took a selfie. PETA sued on behalf of the primate, claiming it should have enjoyed copyright protection because it actually took the photo. The judge threw the case out in a flash.
2. A Greedy Judge vs, the Dry Cleaner
A judge who should have known better sued a dry cleaning establishment after they lost his favorite dress pants. The judge sued even though the dry cleaner agreed to pay him $12,000 in compensation. The judge "pressed" and rejected the $12K offer, asking for $54 Million instead. He lost the case, and ended up with nothing.
1. Jack Ass vs. Jackass
A man named Bob Craft from Montana decided in the later 90s to change his name to Jack Ass after his brother died in a drunk driving accident. The name-change was intended to be a public service message for people in order to inspire them to drive sober. About the very same time, Viacom launched a provocative daredevil stunt television show called Jackass which aired on MTV. Jack Ass sued for copyright infringement, claiming he owned the rights to the name. Sadly, the Jack Ass never saw his lawsuit succeed because he took his own life before the case made it through the court system, according to the New Yorker.