#20. Starbucks Disaster
Nobody likes to get burnt with a hot beverage, even less when it's a cup of steaming hot coffee. But that doesn't mean that when you order a drink somewhere and then that drink happens to spill, that you make sure somebody is sued, right? Well, apparently, that doesn't seem to be the common answer to some.
In North Carolina, a police officer thought it appropriate that after spilling hot coffee on his lap, he should be entitled to sue Starbucks for $750,000. Mind you, he didn't even purchase the coffee, Starbucks had given it to him for free. The judge glanced at this crazy request and decided that the coffee company was not to blame for the damage.
#19. Google Maps
Aren't we glad that we live in the time of Google Maps where you can literally just type where you are, choose your destination, and your path will be delivered? It's an amazing app that is life-saving and few of us can imagine what it would be like to not have Google Maps at hand's reach.
However, for some of us, having Google Maps might not be considered a blessing, but rather a curse. That is the case for a woman called Laura Rosenberg, whose experience with Google Maps was rather disastrous. The woman had used the app to find a safe walkway, but instead, ended up in a four-lane highway. She decided to still use that path and ended up being hit by a car. While she tried suing Google for it, the court rejected her request.
#18. Don't Teach Evolution
This one is rather strange, because at first glance, it doesn't really seem like what this man did was wrong in any way. But back in 1925, John Scopes was a teacher at a Tennessee high school. What he did that was illegal at the time, was teach his students evolution. Yes, you read right, evolution.
The reason why no teacher would have dared teach evolution in 1925, was because that same year, The Butler Act was introduced to Tennessee by a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives. The law said that public school teachers were not allowed to teach anything that would go against the Bible. As a result, John Scopes was fined $100.
#17. Age Disparities
Being a playboy doesn't necessarily make you a bad person. After all, if you are a wealthy man that enjoys spending time on ensuring your own pleasure, who can really stop you? Besides, having several casual sexual relationships is totally fine as long as there is consent on both sides.
But for Rolf Eden, things didn't turn out quite well on the day that he decided to enjoy a sexual encounter at a place that specialized on such arranged meetings. When the 77-year-old German was seeking to have sexual relationships with a 19-year-old woman, he was surprised to find out that she refused to. Angered by this, Eden filed lawsuit because he believed that the woman's rejection was based on age discrimination.
#16. Copyrights
Everybody loves a cute and funny monkey that has a mischievous side to them, right? I mean, one would never think that a monkey's funny act would ever result in the courtroom. But that is exactly what happened in 2011, when a monkey grabbed a photographer's camera and smartly took a picture of himself.
In essence, the monkey took a selfie with the photographer's device. But David Slater, the photographer, would have never guessed that this would result in him being sued by PETA. The Animal rights group claimed that the owner and thus the copyright for that selfie belonged to the monkey. Finally, after years of law drama, both sides reached a common agreement.
#15. Seagull Attack
Not all of us are the biggest fans of seagulls. Some of us love how they instantly reminds us of the ocean and the nice breeze, while others think differently given their attitude towards humans. While opinions regarding seagulls vary, there is one person that definitely has a strong stance in terms of their view towards these creatures.
This person had quite the experience with a seagull, but few people would have ever thought that it would have resulted in a lawsuit. When a 59 year-old-woman from Scotland was attacked by a seagull, nobody would have guessed that the surrounding buildings would be blamed. The woman fell on the ground from the bird attacking her, and she thought that it was the office buildings' fault for not doing more for her safety.
#14. Smelly Feet
Now we all know how lazy some of us can get when we have to shower. I mean, you're cozied up in bed and then you remember you still haven't showered and the mere thought of the cold water or being wet is just dreadful. However, while most of us don't jump in excitement at the idea of showering, some people out there really dislike it.
That is the case of a student in the Netherlands who attended Erasmus University. The student walked without shoes and never washed his feet. According to the school, the bad odor was so distracting to the other students, that they had to expel the smelly peer. However, the judge said that the University couldn't expel a student on the grounds of bad odor.
#13. Dingo Trouble
This one had us highly confused and highly scared of camping. When a woman from New Zealand named Lindy Chamberlain decided to go camping out in the woods with her husband and her two-month-old baby, she never would have thought that the events that followed would cause her to be locked behind bars.
When Azaria, the baby, disappeared into the night, Lindy said that what had caused her child's disappearance was a dingo. Specifically, she claimed that the dingo had stolen Azaria and eaten her. Obviously, nobody believed Lindy and instead of receiving the public's sympathy, authorities determined she was a murderer. Surprisingly, years later, people found fragments of Azaria's clothing in a dingo's lair and Lindy was finally set free.
#12. Bored Out Of Your Mind
Everybody dreads getting themselves into a job they hate. You know the saying that if you work as something you love, you'll never work a single day in your life! But of course, it's rather hard to never experience a job that makes you experience some boredom. But is that reason to file a lawsuit?
The answer to that is, yes for some. Fredric Desnard hated his job so much, that he thought it fit to sue his boss. The forty-four-year-old felt that his job was way too boring, to the point that the everyday routine and everyday tasks were driving him into a state of depression.
#11. Crazy Parents
We've all heard about overprotective parents or helicopter parenting right? Sometimes, and this is understandable in some cases, parents just get a little too much into their kids' lives. Some of them take it into the extreme and that is the case of two parents who in 1985 sued a band that allegedly drove their kids to attempting suicide.
The story goes that the parents claimed it was the band's fault for releasing an album that had subliminal messages that suggested one should commit suicide. The judge, however, ended up ruling in favor of the heavy metal band, Judas Priest, given the teenagers had a history of troubled behavior.
#10.Not Good Enough
Let's be honest, we've all been in that position where you take an exam and when you get your grade, it's rather different than what you had anticipated. For the most part, you're upset for a few hours and then just carry on with life. After all, there'll be so many exams you'll have to take in the future, that there is no point in worrying too much about one that didn't go well.
Surprisingly, some people prefer not to carry on with their lives but instead, make sure that the school is actually sued. That is what happened when Jennifer Burbella failed her nursing exam twice in a row. She believed that her bad grades were due to the school's lack of support for students' mental health.
#9. Too Close
Aren't you glad that we live in a time when you can order something online and then magically that package appears at the foot of your door? I don't know about you, but I'm sure glad that I can get my item delivered right outside without barely moving. But not all of us are grateful for this benefit...
A woman who had ordered something online had her package delivered by FedEx. While the story seems rather normal, what ended up happening was that she tripped over the box and fell. She claimed that the incident had caused her to feel deeply humiliated and that the accident was FedEx's fault for putting the package way too close to her front door.
#8. Don't Mislead
Most of us never really pay too much attention to radio competitions. I mean, what are the chances that you win and what are the chances that whatever they're giving away is real? Well, one of these radio competitions decided it was smart to offer a car to whoever had the right answer to their question.
Not surprisingly, what they were really offering was a toy car. However, when the woman that got the correct answer, Cathy McGowan, received the toy car, she was furious. So she decided to file a lawsuit against the station claiming that their competition was misleading. Surprise surprise, the judge made the company give her a new Renault Clio.
#7. The Flying Bread Roll
Once in a while, you feel the need to go to a restaurant that offers something a little more interesting than the normal experience you get in your average restaurant. We're not talking about fancy food or fancy dancers, but rather, a restaurant that throws bread rolls across the room.
If you are interested in such an experience, be sure to check out Lambert's Cafe in Missouri, which is known for throwing their bread rolls across to the tables. Apparently, when a woman walked into the Cafe, what she thought would be a fun experience ended up being a hurtful one. A server threw a bread roll that unfortunately hit this woman's eye and in turn, she sued the Cafe for a whopping $25,000.
#6. Crazy Man
There are crazy people everywhere, and some of them give us all a laugh when they do funny things. But the case of Edmond Frank MacGillivray Jr. is a little bit more than just funny. When the man decided to sue the Michigan State Police Department on the basis that he had been mistreated, Edmond had the most curious way of writing his name for the trial.
To be more specific, the name he wrote down was a 68-word name that went: “I AM THE BEAST SIX SIX SIX OF THE LORD OF HOSTS IN EDMOND FRANK MACGILLIVRAY JR NOW. I AM THE BEAST SIX SIX SIX OF THE LORD OF HOSTS IEFMJN. I AM THE BEAST SIX SIX SIX OF THE LORD OF HOSTS. I AM THE BEAST SIX SIX SIX OTLOHIEFMJN. I AM THE BEAST SSSOTLOHIEFMJN. I AM THE BEAST SIX SIX SIX. BEAST SIX SIX SIX LORD.” No further comments.
#5. A Few Scratches
A gas explosion is no small thing and no joke. Serious injuring can ensure from one and the topic shouldn't be treated lightly. However, some people seem to have some interesting perspectives when it comes to these explosions, and that was the case of two women who lived nearby a building that underwent a gas explosion.
While the incident that occurred one afternoon was very severe, to the point that the entire building went down and several people were injured, two women that lived not too far from it decided to sue the city for $40 million. At this point, you probably think that they had severe injuries, right? Well, they actually had “like, five or six scratches.”
#4. Doppelgänger
With the number of people that have walked this Earth and that are currently walking, it's rather impossible to believe that there isn't anybody out there that isn't biologically related to you yet looks somewhat similar. I mean, you might never meet them but that doesn't mean that they don't exist.
However, when your lookalike is a very, very famous basketball player, it's a bit harder for the fact that you look similar to them to go unnoticed. But as to Allen Heckard, Michael Jordan's lookalike, he got fed up of being told so often that he had a similar appearance to the basketball genius, he tried to sue Jordan and the founder of Nike for a total of $800 million.
#3. Sue Your Lawyer
Normally, when you file for divorce, you are rather grateful for the lawyers that help you ensure that everything goes smoothly, right? Well, the lawyers that assisted Jane Mulcahy finalize her divorce certainly were not expecting to get sued by the woman herself.
The issue was that Jane was Roman Catholic, and she took her religion very, very seriously. The reason why she tried to sue her former lawyers was that she believed that she had been ill-advised to file for divorce, given divorce is considered a sin in her religion. Instead, she thought that her lawyers should have pushed for a judicial separation.
#2. A Bit Too Much
We all love dogs, right? I mean, man's best friend, man's life companion; dogs are basically way too good for human beings. However, this doesn't mean that every dog has good intentions, and Anton Purisima had to be an example of this. After being bitten by a dog in a bus in NYC, he made sure somebody paid for the damage.
Mr. Purisma claimed that the dog was infested with rabies, and after being bitten, he not only sued the city, but also, the NYC transit, some hospitals that were nearby, and even an Au Bon Pain store (a delicious cafe and bakery). Anton was so infuriated (and a bit delusional) that he sued for “two undecillion dollars". Yes, that is a total of $340 trillion trillion trillion.
#1. Flying Pineapple
While we think that most of these cases are absolutely crazy, we can maybe understand that when something happens to you that would be suit for getting good money, that you would pursue a lawsuit. However, some people just ask for a little bit too much, and that was the case of police officer Tracey Ormsby.
Tracey was handling a protest in Scotland, when he was unexpectedly hit with a pineapple. Besides the fact that we're all confused as to why somebody would be throwing such a large and delicious fruit, we are all perplexed at the amount of money she was suing for. Tracey was asking for $2 million from the city, but instead received $4,000.