Wild, Weird & Wacky Legal Cases

What were they thinking?

Once upon a time, you might have made a joke about wanting to sue someone for something, but you would never actually do it. For these people, they had different plans…

Photo by Project 290 on Unsplash

  • LEBRON JAMES 2.0

Some people go to great lengths to look like their favorite celebrity, but for Allen Heckard of Portland, Oregan, being mistaken for Michael Jordan became a frustrating ordeal.

In 2006, Heckard took an unconventional step by suing the NBA star and Nike co-founder Phil Knight for a whopping $832 million.

Despite the undeniable resemblance and even sporting a similar earring, Heckard was eight years older and six inches shorter than Jordan. However, he eventually withdrew the amusing lawsuit when faced with the daunting task of explaining the exorbitant amount in court. This unusual case highlights the lengths individuals may go to in order to gain money off the backs of celebrities.

 

  • HONEY, WHERE ARE MY PANTS?

In 2007, a seemingly routine dry cleaning dispute escalated into a jaw-dropping legal battle. Judge Roy Pearson took action against Custom Cleaners, a neighborhood establishment, when he believed they returned the wrong pair of pants.

Pearson, an administrative law judge, sued for an astounding $67 million, citing the dry cleaner's failure to meet their "satisfaction guaranteed" promise.

The lawsuit, later reduced to $53 million, alleged common law fraud violations. Pearson argued that the hefty sum was justified due to the emotional distress caused by the lost pants. However, the case took a bizarre turn when Pearson struggled to prove that the trousers he received were not his. Ultimately, Pearson's quest to hold the dry cleaner accountable for a pair of pants ended in defeat, highlighting the absurdities and complexities that can arise from seemingly trivial disputes.

Read more about these two cases here.

How did they win?

Photo by bruce mars on Unsplash

  • CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF A LAWSUIT

Placing absolute faith in weather forecasts can lead to surprising legal conflicts. In a noteworthy case, an Israeli woman sued a TV station for wrongly predicting a sunny day. Caught in the rain instead, she fell ill, missed work, and faced medical bills. Despite the seeming absurdity, she amazingly emerged victorious in her $1,000 lawsuit.

  • UNIVERSITY FEAT FEET

Maintaining personal hygiene is crucial, but can it result in expulsion from college? In a remarkable turn of events, a Dutch university dismissed a student in 1999 due to the distracting odor from his feet, impacting peers and professors. Following his expulsion from Erasmus University, former philosophy student Teunis Tenbrook fought back. After a determined decade-long legal battle, Tenbrook was reinstated as a student at Erasmus.

Read more about these cases and other min-boggling case wins here

Bad advice from jeremy

Here are the 3 lawsuits that I want to pursue personally (for legal reasons this is a joke). Whether they are slight inconveniences, or things that just make me annoyed, these just seem right to me.

3. The Air in Chip Bags

Misleading and deceptive conduct, I think so! Am I buying air? Am I supposed to just ignore packet sizes and…. read the information on the packets????

2. Adobe Pro

Automatically renewing subscriptions after a free trial are absolutely diabolical. Being much more costly than others, and having a brain-fade by not reading the small-print, Adobe is definitely on my chopping block.

1. Woolworths & Coles

I want to personally join the current lawsuits on these abominations. The cost of some of the products have become unobtainable and I’m one more $12 pack of cheese away from storming into a courtroom.

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Author: Jeremy WoodGULSComment