Many of us agree that our culture is lawsuit-happy and greedy. These lawsuits may be justified, but they certainly are strange.
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— A client has sued a dating service claiming he was introduced to the “wrong” women. Scott Solomon has filed a $2,000 lawsuit against Matchmaker International after being introduced to nine women. Solomon asked to meet “thin” women of “average intelligence.” He complained that of the nine women, three were overweight, two canceled their memberships, one was married, two were reluctant to meet anyone through Matchmaker and one was a childhood friend who he did not want to date. Matchmaking claims Solomon failed to specify what he wanted in a female companion. [Erie, PA., AP, 06-25]
— Annette Blenker has won $475,000 in damages from a Santa Rosa store, claiming she was permanently injured when a six-pack of beer fell onto her foot. Blenker originally sought a $2.5 million compensation for lost lifetime wages. [Santa Rosa, Calif., AP, 06-27]
— A man is suing a supermarket chain because one of their promotions offered so many bargains he hurt his back carrying them. Dave Feuerstein used more than 300 coupons which offered discounts for merchandise purchased at a Tesco supermarket. Feuerstein made several trips to the store over a three day period. “Offers like this are too good to refuse,” Feuerstein said. “Tesco should have been more considerate and make it impossible to do what I did. If Tesco hadn’t had this offer I wouldn’t have hurt my back.” [London, The Sun, 06-23]
— Thomas Moringiello appealed his 18-month jail sentence claiming the trial was prejudiced when Judge Richard Hamilton fell asleep through parts of the testimony. Britain’s Court of Appeal rejected his claim stating that: “It does not follow that if a judge is asleep that prejudice has been caused at all.” [London, AP, 07-31]
— A 35-year-old Japanese man filed a lawsuit against his wife for refusing to live with him soon after their marriage. The 33-year-old woman divorced her husband because he demanded she do all the cooking, cleaning and house chores even though she had a full-time job. The Tokyo Court ruled in favor of the woman. [Tokyo, Reuter, 08-01]
— A 36-year-old woman is suing two local television stations for reporting false information submitted by her drunken sister. While under the influence of alcohol, the sister told police that Loretta Easely is a cross-dressing child molester who kidnapped her 7-year-old son. Easely claims the television stations continued to broadcast the false information and did not report the police investigation’s results. According to the lawsuit, Easely lost her job and was forced out of her apartment. [Tombstone, Arizona Daily Star, 07-17]
— A woman has sued her former landlord for $50,000, claiming her rented apartment was infested with bugs and that a cockroach lived in her ear for almost one week. Maria Garza’s lawsuit states: “Plaintiff was shocked, alarmed and greatly dismayed to learn that she had a cockroach or black bug in her ear for nearly one week.” Garza claims a doctor removed a cockroach from her ear. [Moorhead, Minn., AP, 07-18]
— NASA was hit with a lawsuit by three Yemeni men who claim ownership of planet Mars. The three men say they can prove their claim and demanded immediate suspension of all operations on Mars. “We inherited the planet from our ancestors 3,000 years ago,” Al-Thawri newspaper quoted the men as saying. The men withdrew the lawsuit following pressure from the prosecutor general who threatened to arrest them for false accusations. “I threatened them with arrest if they failed to withdraw the case and they did,” Prosecutor General Mohammad al-Bady said. [San’a, Yemen, AP, Reuter, 07-24]
— A New York businessman is suing Air France for $12 million after crew members blasted through the aircraft’s bathroom door, pulled him out while he was partly naked and accused him of smoking on the flight. Raviv Laor, 27, claims he was humiliated and abused by the crew who responded to the smoke detector alarm. “It turned out the alarm was defective,” Laor’s attorney Michael Wolin said. “(Laor was) with his pants down and in the process of going to the bathroom,” he added. “(He) was viciously assaulted and physically attacked by several crew members who pulled him naked outside the bathroom exposing his genitals and other private body parts to seated passengers.” [New York, Reuter, 07-02]
— A 270-pound man has filed a lawsuit against his employer, Coca Cola Enterprises, after finding the following memo on his desk: “Hire people who will help you succeed. Here is a tip to live by: If they are fat and slow when you interview them, they are going to be the same when they work here.” Roy Fairchild, a sales manager for the company, said he “took it personally” when he read his supervisor’s memo. Fairchild, 47, also claims his supervisor, Dave Meeks, made fun of him while passing out company jackets, saying, “Everybody got their jacket except Roy because they didn’t have his size. He ordered an extra, extra, extra large.” [San Francisco, AP, 07-03]
— John Kahlig sued his own attorney after finding out he was having an affair with his wife. A jury awarded the former car dealer $1.6 million in damages, $500,000 more than he asked for. The jury found attorney Stephen Boyd guilty of deceptive practices and fraud. [San Antonio, Nando Times, 07-03]
— John Lowe sued the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes baseball team after being distracted by the team’s mascot and getting hit by a foul ball. Lowe said he turned around when touched by the dinosaur mascot’s tail and could not react in time when a foul ball hit him in the face. Lowe suffered several broken bones. [San Bernardino, Calif., AP, 07-02]