'I'm going to sue!' The strangest lawsuits ever filed in the U.S.
Microwaveable mac & cheese
When the instructions on a cup of Velveeta’s microwavable mac and cheese said the meal only takes three and a half minutes to prepare, one woman in Florida expected just that.
This lady was a in a real hurry to eat some mac n' cheese!
But when it took her slightly longer to prepare her meal, the woman claimed Velveeta was guilty of false advertising and decided to sue the manufacturer for $5 million.
A long list of bizarre lawsuits in the U.S.
This is just the latest out of a long list of ridiculous lawsuits that have been filed in the United States over the years; so bizarre that one would even believe aren’t real. These are some of them:
Hot coffee in McDonalds
You can’t talk about ridiculous lawsuits without mentioning the most infamous one: the hot coffee lawsuit. In 1992, 79-year-old Stella Liebeck got McDonald’s coffee spilled all over her when she was trying to remove the lid.
More complex than it seems
She burnt herself and sued Mc Donald’s. Most people made the obvious argument that it’s expected for coffee to be hot. However, the case was a bit more complex than that…
Mc Donald’s refused to pay for her medical bills
Liebeck suffered third-degree burns that required skin grafts, and ended up suing McDonald’s after they refused to reimburse her $10,000 for medical bills. She sued the fast food chain for $2.9 million dollars but only got $640,000.
The notorious lawsuit isn’t so weird after all
So, despite its notoriety, this case isn’t really that ridiculous, especially when compared to these other seriously wacky lawsuits:
The man who sued himself
In 1995, Robert Lee Brock, an inmate at the Indian Creek Correctional Center in Chesapeake, sued himself for getting inebriated and violating his civil rights.
Responsibility of the state
“For violating my religious beliefs, I want to pay myself $5 million, but ask the state to pay it in my behalf since I can't work and am a ward of the state,'' Lee Brock wrote. Needless to say, the case was dismissed in court.
No fruit in Froot Loops
Roy Werbal spent much of his life thinking that Froot Loops contained real fruit. When he found out they didn’t, he filed a suit in 2009 against cereal-maker Kellogg.
Photo: Sascha Bosshard/Unsplash
Dismissed by a judge
"Had he known that Froot Loops contained no fruit, he would not have purchased it," stated his complaint. However, it was dismissed.
Less than a foot-long sandwich
The Australian teen who posed with a tape measure and a Subway sandwich that appeared to fall a full inch shy of its 12-inch mark probably had no intention of starting a three-plus-year lawsuit, but that’s what happened.
Subway payed the costumers $500 plus attorney fees
Ten different people filed lawsuits and they were consolidated into one. The proceedings dragged on for years until early 2016, when Subway agreed to award $500, plus attorney fees, to each of the ten plaintiffs.
Trying to buy a fighter jet with Pepsi points
John Leonard tried to buy a fighter jet with Pepsi points. He collected 7 million points in 1999, and then asked for his prize: a Harrier fighter jet like the one in a Pepsi TV ad.
Case dismissed
Pepsi refused, so he sued the company for breach of contract and fraud. The court dismissed the case arguing that no reasonable person could think the commercial actually offered the jet.
Netflix documentary
This lawsuit is further explored in the recent Netflix docuseries: ‘Pepsi, where’s my jet?’
Suing your famous doppelgänger
Isn’t looking like Michael Jordan a good thing? Allen Heckard doesn’t seem to think so.
Photo: News4Jax.com
Emotional suffering
In 2009 he filed a lawsuit against the basketball star and Nike, saying that looking like Jordan caused him emotional suffering.
$416 million from Jordan plus $416 million from Nike
Heckard seeked $416 million from Jordan, and another $416 million from Nike for making Jordan a celebrity, but he eventually got tired and dropped the suit.
Bud Light lawsuit
Like many other alcoholic beverages, Bud Light serves their advertisements with ice cold beer and sexy women. One man in Michigan claimed the product wasn’t as advertised.
Bud Light doesn’t get you beautiful women?
In 1991, Richard Overton sued the Anheuser-Busch Corporation on grounds that the Bud Light he consumed did not carry him away to a paradise full of beautiful women, like in the advertisement.
Case dismissed
Within his claims, Overton added his suffering of emotional distress, financial loss, and mental injury. He sued for $10,000 but was awarded $0. The case was dismissed by the courts.
There’s a finger in my chili
Finally, another of the more infamous fast-food lawsuits and definitely the most gruesome one: the time a woman sued Wendy’s after finding a human fingertip in her bowl of chili.
Took the story to the press
In 2005, Ana Ayala said she found a fingertip in her food, took the story to the press and proceeded to file a lawsuit against the fast-food giant.
She planted the finger herself
When authorities started investigating the source of the missing fingertip, Ayala dropped her suit. It soon became clear that she'd planted the finger herself.
Settling a debt
It turned out that Ayala’s husband’s coworker had lost his fingertip in a work accident and had willingly given it to them in order to settle a debt.
Conspiring to file a false claim
Ayala and her husband ended up pleading guilty to conspiring to file a false claim and attempted grand theft. They both spent time in prison.
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