Nowadays, you can sue almost anyone for almost anything. You don’t even have to be wronged to file a lawsuit… you could just be greedy. Dishonesty (and stupidity) doesn’t stop people as much as you’d hope it would.
Here are some of the craziest lawsuits that ever made it through the judicial system. They’ll leave you shaking your head (and saving up money, just in case you ever get sued).
1.) Suing Because Your Name Was Misspelled
Tanisha Torres of Wyndanch, N.Y., sued Radio Shack for misspelling her town as “Crimedanch” on her cell phone bill. She didn’t even ask them to change it; she just sued. She claimed she suffered “outrage” and “embarrassment” at having to see that spelling on her private phone bill.
2.) Suing Because You Were Bullied
Dylan Theno was bullied for years by classmates because they believed he was gay… so he sued the school district. He was awarded $440,000 in a settlement.
3.) Suing Because You Were Bitten By A Dog
In October 1999, Jerry Williams of Little Rock Arkansas was awarded $14,500.00 and medical expenses after being bitten on the buttocks by his next door neighbor’s beagle. The beagle was on a chain in it’s owner’s fenced-in yard, as was Mr. Williams. The jury felt the dog may have been provoked by Mr. Williams who, at the time, was shooting it repeatedly with a pellet gun.
4.) Suing Because You Accidentally Killed Someone
Marcy Noriega had a suspect from a minor disturbance handcuffed in the back of her patrol car. When the suspect started to kick at the car’s windows, Officer Noriega decided to subdue him with her Taser. Incredibly, instead of pulling her stun gun from her belt, she pulled her service sidearm and shot the man in the chest, killing him instantly. The city, however, says the killing is not the officer’s fault; it argues that “any reasonable police officer” could “mistakenly draw and fire a handgun instead of the Taser device” and has filed suit against Taser, arguing the company should pay for any award from the wrongful death lawsuit the man’s family has filed.
5.) Suing Because Of A Bottle Rocket
A West Virginia college student sued his fraternity, alleging that he fell off a deck when a drunken frat brother fired a bottle rocket out of his own butt. Louis Helmburg III alleges that Travis Hughes’s bottle-rocket stunt so startled him that he jumped back and fell off the deck. Oops.
6.) Suing Because A Little Boy Hit You
A New Jersey woman hit by a baseball at a Little League game sued the 11 year-old player who threw it. Spectator Elizabeth Lloyd wants catcher Matthew Migliaccio to pay her $150,000, alleging that his errant warm-up throw was “reckless.”
7.) Suing Because You Don’t Have Floss
Four inmates at a prison in West Palm Beach, Florida, have filed a lawsuit claiming “pain and suffering” due to their lack of access to dental floss. Sheriff Ric Bradshaw says there’s too great a risk of floss being used as a weapon or a rope.
8.) Suing Because You Love Your Honda Accord Too Much
In June 1998, a 19 year-old Carl Truman of Los Angeles won $74,000.00 and medical expenses when his neighbor ran his hand over with a Honda Accord. Mr. Truman apparently didn’t notice someone was at the wheel of the car whose hubcap he was trying to steal.
9.) Suing Because You Were Abused
David Hanser was one of the first Catholic priests to be caught up in the sex abuse scandal. In 1990, he settled a suit filed by one of his victims for $65,000. In the settlement, Hanser agreed not to work with children anymore, but the victim learned that the priest violated the agreement. He went public with the information… causing the priest to sue him for the same $65,000 because he violated his own part of the deal — to keep the settlement secret.
10.) Suing Because You Failed At School
Morgan Crutchfield, a student of Lincoln Memorial University and the John Duncan School of Law in Tennessee, wasted $80,000 on law school tuition. She did not complete her undergraduate degree and was ineligible to take the bar exam. So, she sued the schools.
11.) Suing Because Of Florida Panthers
Kenneth Nolan hit a wild panther while riding a motorcycle on the highway in Big Cypress National Preserve. He claims a roadside “animal detection system” failed to alert him. He decided to sue.
12.) Suing Because You Look Like Michael Jordan
Allen Heckard sued Michael Jordan and Phil Knight on July 2006. Heckard claims he has suffered emotional trauma because he looks like Michael Jordan.
Knowing that these people filed lawsuits is bad, but knowing that some of them won? It’s even worse.
