Jodee Berry, a Hooter's waitress in Florida, won the restaurant's sales contest and thought she'd just won the new Toyota that her bosses said the champion would get. The prize was actually a toy Yoda, not a Toyota, so she left her job and sued the franchisee for breach of contract and fraudulent misrepresentation. The force was with Berry: The out-of-court settlement in May 2002 allowed her to pick out any Toyota car she wanted.
2. Fingered as a Scam
In March 2005, Ann Ayala filed a claim against a Wendy's franchise owner, asserting that she had found a fingertip in a bowl of chili. But authorities found no evidence of missing fingers at the accused restaurant. Suspicion turned on Ayala, who dropped the suit when reporters discovered that she had previously accused several other companies of wrongdoing.3. No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
In July 2004, two teenage girls in Colorado baked cookies and delivered them to their neighbors. But the door-knocking apparently scared Wanita Young, who had an anxiety attack, went to the hospital, and sued the girls' families. A local judge awarded Young almost $900 for medical expenses but denied her half-baked demand for nearly $3,000 in itemized expenses, including lost wages and new motion-sensor lights for her porch.If you think these lawsuits are outrageous, then you certainly will enjoy the litigation described on the next page.
4. Bubbles Aren't Always Fun
Early on the morning of July 7, 2001, a prankster dumped detergent into a public park fountain in Duluth, Minnesota, creating a mountain of bubbles. A few hours later, passerby Kathy Kelly fell down and suffered several injuries. She sued the city because it had not cleaned up the suds (on Saturday morning) or posted warnings to citizens urging them not to walk through the slippery wall of bubbles. A jury in March 2004 found the city 70 percent responsible for Kelly's injuries -- leaving her with only 30 percent of the blame -- and thus awarded her $125,000.5. School Responsible for Bad Break-Up
In February 2004, a New York court ordered a school district to pay a former student $375,000 when his two-year affair with a school secretary ended. The young basketball star claimed that the break-up brought "emotional and psychological trauma," ruining any prospects for a professional hard-court career. The jury determined that the school was culpable for failing to supervise the secretary properly. It also ordered the secretary to pay the student another $375,000 -- even though she had not been named in the lawsuit.6. Trespass at the Owner's Risk
Let's say you're illegally sneaking onto a railroad's property so you can get a view from the top of a boxcar -- and then an electrical wire above the car electrocutes you. What do you do? Obviously, you sue the railroad! In October 2006, a jury awarded more than $24 million to two young men who were severely burned while atop a parked railroad car in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 2002.The jury said that, although they were trespassing, the 17-year-old boys bore no responsibility. Instead the blame fell entirely on Amtrak and Norfolk Southern for failing to post signs warning of the danger from the electrified wires that power locomotives. For medical costs, pain and suffering, and "loss of life pleasures," one boy received $17.3 million and the other $6.8 million.
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