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The legal system is serious business–most of the time, anyway. Here are some of the wildest, most frivolous, and shocking lawsuits ever filed. In some cases, the plaintiff actually won!
In 2016, a teenager decided to measure his Subway sandwich to ensure that it was, in fact, a foot long. When he found the sandwich was actually 11 inches, he sparked a class-action lawsuit that the company eventually settled.
While you can legally change your name–such as when you get married or divorced–you can’t change your age. That was news to 69-year-old Emile Ratelband of the Netherlands, who fought to have twenty years shaved off his birthdate in order to, in part, have better luck on Tinder.
Robert Lee Brock was serving 23 years in prison for grand larceny when he came up with a wacky plan to sue himself for $5 million. Brock claimed that he violated his own religious beliefs by getting drunk and committing the very crimes that landed him in prison. Since he had to way to pay for the damages and was “a ward of the state,” he wanted the government to pay him back.
It didn’t work, although the presiding judge was impressed by his moxie. Brock went on to make another thirty-plus frivolous legal appeals over the next year.
A man from Austin, Texas, found himself very disgruntled when his date for the evening texted throughout the movie they’d agreed to see together. In fact, he was so upset at having his evening ruined, he sued her!
Eventually, she agreed to pay him back for the ticket to “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” if he dropped the lawsuit.
That was a bad date, but this has to be one of the worst marriages ever. When a Chinese couple welcomed their first child, the husband was shocked at how hideous he found his newborn daughter.
He claimed that since she looked nothing like either mom or dad, his wife must have been cheating. In fact, she’d had extensive plastic surgery before meeting her husband. Amazingly, the judge sided with him and ordered the wife to pay over $100,000 in damages.
And yes, they divorced, too.
Wanted criminal Jesse Dimmick kidnapped two people in 2009 during his flight from justice. The Kansas couple escaped when Dimmick fell asleep, and he was soon apprehended. They sued their kidnapper for damages–and Dimmick sued them right back for breach of contract! He said his victims had verbally agreed not to go to the police. Needless to say, his suit was thrown out of court.
Do you remember last year when Popeyes Louisana Chicken released their chicken sandwich and everybody went wild over it? Craig Barr was desperate to get a taste of that crispy goodness, but the restaurant ran out while he waited in line. Not content merely to go home empty-handed, he sued the company for $5,000. The case is still pending.
