In 1992, Stella Liebeck sued McDonald’s after she was burned by her coffee. Her case made headlines and maddened thousands of people who deemed her lawsuit frivolous. Few realize however, that there was more to Liebeck’s story than was found in the press. Though partially her fault for the spill, the coffee really was too hot. Ms. Liebeck was hospitalized for eight days and was forced to undergo skin grafting treatments, suffering third degree burns on multiple parts of her body. Nevertheless, with the influence of the golden arches, she quickly became the poster child of frivolous lawsuits.
Over the years, “frivolous” lawsuits have become corporate weapons, often depicting the company as victims of customer’s greed. Here are a few more examples of personal injury cases, spun into absurdity. You may have heard of them, but you most likely haven’t heard all the details.
1) The Family That Sued Disneyland for Seeing Characters Out of Costume
The story: This one has reached urban legend status. The story: a family’s Disneyland vacation is destroyed and their children traumatized for years after catching a glimpse of a headless Mickey and Minnie taking a much needed oxygen break. They then sue Disney. And win.
The truth: While the children did see Mickey without his head, it’s not the whole story. The family really sued after being falsely accused of stealing a trinket from a souvenir shop. Despite immediately furnishing the receipt, the manager dragged the family to a back room where he then interrogated them for two and half hours. Following the interrogation, a handful of headless Disney characters came into the backroom right as the family was leaving. While the headless mascots were the focus of the story, they were hardly the reason for the lawsuit.
2) The Woman Who Sued a Haunted House for Being Too Scary
This one frequently tops the lists of most absurd lawsuits.
The story: A 57-year-old woman visited Universal Studio’s Halloween Horror Night’s haunted house. She then sued on the grounds it was too frightening and caused her extreme distress and emotional trauma.
The truth: So what really happened? Peters was near the end of the haunted house when a man dressed as Leatherface, yielding a fake chainsaw, got a bit overzealous. Peters ran, he chased and she slipped on a wet spot from a leaky coolant system near the door (the real reason she sued). To add insult to injury, the employee persisted to hover over her instead of offering assistance. The news reported the case as a woman suing for being frightened, but in reality it was a standard slip and fall case.
3) The Guys Who Sued When Their Hot Air Balloon Broke After Stuffing It In A Dryer
The story: Two guys’ hot air balloon crashed into a lake. While washing the material at a commercial laundromat, the overstuffed dryer exploded–damaging both the balloon and forcing shrapnel into the men’s faces. This led to a lawsuit against the manufacturer of the dryer, won by the men with a settlement of $1,260,000.
The settlement amount is true, but the rest is filled with hot air.
The truth: In reality, a balloon was stuffed into a dryer. But not at a laundromat. The men took enough care to find a hospital facility with a massive industrial dryer designed to bear a 2,000 pound load, including hardcore waterproof material. This should have been more than enough for a roughly 130 pound balloon. Instead, the dryer exploded, severing limbs and sending the men into critical condition. Their only saving grace was that it happened in a hospital.
4) The Woman Who Sued the Hospital for the Loss of Psychic Powers
The story: In 1986, a psychic sued after a CAT scan at a hospital caused her to lose her psychic superpowers. She won $988,000.
The truth: She actually received no compensation following her CAT scan, but might have obtained some financial relief if she hadn’t persisted with her claim of losing her powers. The woman suffered a severe allergic reaction to a red dye the hospital injected into her, even though she’d had the foresight to warn the hospital of her allergy in advance. She was left with chronic and disabling headaches and received no compensation for her pain and suffering.
Know of any other seemingly “frivolous” lawsuits? Feel free to share them below!
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