10 Extremely Ridiculous Lawsuits That Actually Happened

It’s not uncommon for people to try and sue companies over the most frivolous of things, as it is easy to find loopholes and take advantage of the judicial system for their own gain. But some of the ridiculous lawsuits crossed the boundary of sanity grossly. So much so that the activists and politicians had to push for reforms in law to reduce the number of these types of cases.

Have a look at these absurd cases that were filed and most of them were won as well.

1) Liebeck vs. McDonald’s Restaurants

In one of the most widely covered lawsuits of all time, Stella Liebeck, a 79-year-old woman, sued a McDonald’s restaurant for the most ludicrous reason and actually won a whopping $640,000. Liebeck filed a lawsuit against the fast-food chain after suffering third-degree burns in her pelvic region when she accidentally spilled the hot coffee they served into her lap.

Liebeck’s lawyers did extensive research and produced reports of other establishments in the city serving coffee at a temperature that was at least 11°C lower than what McDonald’s served. They also presented an expert opinion which stated that coffee served at a temperature of 88 °C may produce third-degree burns in about 3 seconds.

They also demonstrated that coffee served at a temperature of 82 °C may produce burns in about 12 to 15 seconds. This would give people extra time to remove the coffee from the affected area. The jury voted in favor of Liebeck, and McDonald’s lost the lawsuit and a lot of money due to its negligence of 1 staff member.

2) Red Bull did not give customers wings

Extremely Ridiculous Lawsuits Redbull — Source: Redbull

In 2016, a lawsuit was filed against Red Bull when some consumers of the energy drink accused the company of having misleading ads and making false claims as the drink did not actually energize them. They said the company lacked evidence to back up their claim of the beverage being able to improve one’s focus.

Red Bull settled the class-action lawsuit out of court and agreed to pay $640,000.

3) Bodine vs. Enterprise High School

Ridiculous Lawsuits That Actually Happened — Source: Listverse

In 1984, Ricky Bodine, a 19-year-old high school graduate climbed onto the roof of the school gymnasium along with three other friends to either steal a floodlight or to redirect it so they could play basketball undetected. While Bodine was walking on the roof he unknowingly stepped onto a skylight that had been painted over, fell through it onto the gym floor, and injured himself substantially — brain damage left Bodine mute and quadriplegic.

Bodine sued the school for $8 million (which amounts to about $16 million today) and settled for a sum of $260,000 plus $1200 per month for life. What’s alarming and absurd about this case is that a person injured himself while trespassing and potentially stealing from a property, then sued the property owners for his injuries — and actually won in court.

4) Subway comes up short

In 2013, some Subway customers filed a lawsuit against the franchise, claiming that Subway was falsely advertising its ‘footlong subs’ as they did not always actually measure up to a foot (12 inches). Some plaintiffs were seeking up to $5 million from the sandwich chain but as the case was a weak one, Subway was let off the hook — but not before they paid $520,000 to the attorneys, $5000 to the plaintiffs, and agreed to make sure subs are the proper size in the future.

5) Husband sues wife over ‘ugly’ baby

Jian Feng, a fuming husband from China, won $120,000 from his wife after he sued her after she gave birth to their baby daughter who was, in his heartless words, “ugly beyond description”.

Feng initially suspected his wife was cheating on him but when DNA tests confirmed he was indeed the biological father, his wife confessed to having had $100,000 dollars worth of plastic surgeries done on her before they met. Feng won the case for his claims of marriage under false pretenses, and the court ordered his wife to pay him thousands of dollars as reparation. Unbelievable, I feel like pulling my hair.

6) When it Rains, it Pours

In 1996, an Israeli woman sued well-known television weatherman Danny Rup for a wrong weather forecast. She had fallen ill and missed work after leaving her house unprepared after believing Rup’s misleading prediction of experiencing sunny weather that day.

Rup settled out-of-court, and the woman eventually won $1,000 and got an apology from the weatherman.

7) Railroaded

In a morbid case in 2008, a Chicago court ruled that a boy who was killed by an oncoming train as he attempted to cross the tracks could be held responsible for his body parts flying into the crowd and injuring a bystander.

18-year-old Hiroyuki Joho was using a crosswalk over the train tracks to get from one platform to the other when he got hit by an express Amtrak train.

The impact sent Joho’s body parts 100 feet up and hit the backside of 58-year-old Gayane Zokhrabov, who suffered a fractured wrist and leg, as well as an injured shoulder. Zokhrabov later sued Joho’s family for negligence, claiming that it was his duty to watch out for trains at the station.

A trial court said the accident was tragic and bizarre, but not foreseeable, and dismissed it. But a Chicago-based appeals court later revived the case, stating that, “It was reasonably foreseeable that the onrushing Amtrak train would strike, kill and fling his body down the tracks and onto the passenger platform where Zokhrabov was waiting for the next scheduled Metra departure.”

8) When a good deed goes wrong

In 2004, two teens decided to forgo a dance to stay home and bake cookies for their neighbors. They wanted to remain anonymous while carrying out the good deed, so they left the package of cookies outside doors, knocked, and then ran away. When the girls, named Taylor Ostergaard and Lindsey Zellitti, reached the home of 49-year-old Wanita Renea Young, their “shadowy figures” on the porch startled the homeowner so much that she called the cops.

The police showed up only to find no evidence of a crime being committed. Nevertheless, the entire experience caused Young so much anxiety that she ended up being hospitalized the next day. The girls apologized to Young and their families even offered to pay her hospital bills. But Young decided to sue the well-intentioned teens instead of forgiving them.

A judge awarded Young almost $900 for medical expenses but denied her demand for $3,000 in punitive damages. The girls received donations from across the US to help pay their fine when the trial made national headlines.

9) Schick vs. Illinois Department of Public Aid

In 2003, Richard Schick, a former employee of the Illinois Department of Public Aid sued the department for sexual and disability discrimination. Shick was in fact so distressed by the discrimination that he deemed robbing a convenience store with a shotgun a reasonable response.

A jury felt his pain and awarded him the money he was seeking, but the decision was then reversed. Schick sought over 5 million dollars and was ultimately awarded $303,830. Unfortunately, the money won isn’t doing him much good during the ten years he’s serving for armed robbery.

10) Ledraplastic balancing ball

In 2009, Francisco Garcia of the Sacramento Kings was balancing on a Ledraplastic balancing ball along with weights when the ball suddenly burst and he was injured.

He suffered from a fracture in his right forearm and was unable to play for four months with the Kings. The Kings and Garcia filed a product liability claim against Ledraplastic, the balancing ball company, for $4 million in lost salaries and $29.6 million in damages, and eventually won the case.

These kinds of lawsuits haven’t become a practice in India but the trend has started. I just hope that we do not follow the western countries in filing such ridiculous lawsuits that make no sense. As a matter of fact, they make people afraid while doing anything as someone else can sue them for anything under the sun. Let us know in the comments if you know of any such case.