Legal
6 of the strangest lawsuits ever filed
Nobody really likes dealing with the law. But sometimes it can lead to some pretty whacky scenarios. Here are six of the strangest lawsuits ever filed. We’re sure you’ll agree these are just plain weird!
- A case of mistaken identity – In 2006 US citizen Allen Heckard sued Michael Jordan and Nike founder Phil Knight for $832 million, due to his resemblance to the basketball star. Mr Heckard claimed to have suffered defamation, permanent injury and emotion pain through people mistaking him for MJ. Needless to stay, Mr Heckard dropped the lawsuit later that year.
- Suing yourself – Well, as they say, “Only in America.” In 1995 Virginian prison inmate Robert Lee Brook sued himself. In his famous, handwritten seven-page lawsuit Mr Lee wrote, "For violating my religious beliefs, I want to pay myself $5 million, but I ask the state to pay it since I can't work." It goes without saying that the judge presiding over the case dismissed the lawsuit.
- One expensive cup of Joe – This case was a media sensation which would famously go on to inspire an episode of Seinfeld. Stella Liebeck, then 79, was in the passenger seat of a parked car when she spilt a 45 cent cup of McDonald’s coffee on her lap, causing third-degree burns. Originally seeking $20,000 to cover medical costs, a jury awarded Ms Liebeck $160,000 in compensatory damages. Ms Liebeck and the fast food chain would eventually settle the matter out of court.
- No same day service here – In perhaps one of the greater overreactions in the history of law and dry cleaning, a judge from Washington D.C. sued his neighbourhood dry cleaning services for $67 million after the dry cleaner misplaced a pair of trousers. While this seems funny and store proprietors Soo and Jin Chung won, they did have to close their stores to cover legal costs.
- Haunted house seriously scary – in 2000, Cleanthi Peters sued Universal Studios for $15,000 claiming to have suffered extreme fear, mental anguish and emotional distress after visiting the theme park’s Halloween Horror Nights haunted house attraction, she claims was too scary.
- Beer doesn’t equal beautiful women – in 1991 Richard Overton sued the makers of US beer Bud Light (and wasted a lot of time and money in the process) for false and misleading advertising under Michigan State law, referencing ads involving fantasies of beautiful women in tropical settings.
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