Some lawsuits begin with serious disputes, while others start with a lottery ticket, a surprise birthday party, a texting date, or even a honey-stealing bear. This third collection follows 50 unusual legal battles through their claims, courtroom twists, settlements, and often surprising outcomes.
Catch up with Part 1 and Part 2.
1 Skiplagged Founder Faced Airline Lawsuit
In November 2014, United Airlines and Orbitz sued a 22-year-old Brooklyn man named Aktarer Zaman for creating Skiplagged, a website that helped travelers find cheaper plane tickets. The site exposed hidden-city fares, which let travelers book a connecting flight, leave at the layover that served as their actual destination, and skip the final leg. Skiplagged did not sell tickets, but United Airlines and Orbitz accused Zaman of promoting prohibited travel and unfair competition. The companies filed the lawsuit in Chicago federal court and sought $75,000 in damages.
2. In 1999, a Waffle House waitress named Tonda Lynn Dickerson received a Florida lottery ticket as a tip in Alabama and won $10 million. Four coworkers sued for 80 percent of the prize, claiming they had agreed to share any winnings, but the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that the gambling-based agreement could not be enforced. The man who tipped her, Edward Seward, then sued over an alleged promise to buy him a truck and lost; soon afterward, Dickerson’s ex-husband, Stacy Martin, kidnapped her in Mississippi, and she shot him in the chest while escaping. Her ordeal later reached the U.S. Tax Court, which ruled that transferring the ticket into a family-owned corporation created a taxable gift but valued it at $1,119,348 after accounting for the coworkers’ claim.
3. Between 2005 and 2009, Google, Apple, Adobe, Intel, Intuit, Pixar, and Lucasfilm maintained agreements restricting them from directly recruiting one another’s employees. A class action representing roughly 64,000 workers alleged that the arrangements reduced competition for skilled employees and suppressed salaries. Apple, Google, Intel, and Adobe eventually settled for $415 million, while Intuit, Pixar, and Lucasfilm paid another $20 million, bringing the total settlements to $435 million.
4. In January 2020, a deaf New York man named Yaroslav Suris sued Pornhub, RedTube, and YouPorn because several videos he tried to watch lacked closed captions. His complaint specifically cited “Hot Step Aunt Babysits Disobedient Nephew” and “Sexy Cop Gets Witness To Talk” among the inaccessible videos. Suris alleged that the websites violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and sought compensatory damages, civil penalties, and fines. Pornhub Vice President Corey Price disputed the broader claim by pointing out that the website maintained a dedicated closed-captions category.
5. In October 2012, a Brampton man named William Fisher underwent a rectal examination at Brampton Civic Hospital while a man and woman introduced as his doctor’s colleagues observed. Fisher said he consented because he believed they were medical practitioners or students but later learned that people connected to the CTV medical drama Saving Hope had been conducting research at the hospital. He alleged that Canadian actor Benjamin Ayres was the man, while he remained unsure whether the woman was Canadian actor Erica Durance or medical researcher Maggie Gilmour, so he named all three in the lawsuit. In 2014, Fisher sued them, his doctor, the hospital, William Osler Health System, and the show’s companies for $100,000, alleging assault, battery, and breach of privacy.
6 Intermittent Wipers Won Kearns Millions
In 1963, American inventor Robert Kearns demonstrated his intermittent windshield wiper to Ford, hoping to supply the technology to the automotive industry. Ford initially told him that his invention would appear on the 1969 Mercury line, but it later dismissed him and claimed its engineers had developed their own system. Ford introduced an electronic intermittent wiper in 1969, followed by General Motors in 1974 and Chrysler in 1977, prompting Kearns to sue Ford for patent infringement in 1978. After a 12-year court fight, he settled with Ford for $10.2 million, then represented himself against Chrysler and won about $11.5 million plus interest.
7. In 1997, a Thai man named Supap Kirtsaeng moved to the United States to study mathematics at Cornell University and discovered that textbooks sold there cost considerably less in Thailand. He asked relatives to buy foreign editions in Thailand and mail them to him, then resold them on eBay for $1.2 million in revenue, although the parties disputed his actual profit. Publisher John Wiley & Sons sued him for copyright infringement in 2008 and won in two lower courts, which ruled that he could not use the first-sale doctrine for books manufactured abroad. In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed those decisions 6-3, ruling that lawfully made copies purchased anywhere in the world could be resold in the United States without the publisher’s permission.
8. In 1964, an 18-year-old Sears clerk in Gardner, Massachusetts, named Peter Roberts invented a quick-release ratchet that let mechanics change sockets with one hand. Sears executives claimed the tool probably would not sell well and purchased his patent rights for $10,000. Roberts later discovered that Sears had already test-marketed the invention, converted about 75 percent of its wrenches to his design, and sold 26 million units for an estimated $44 million profit. He sued, and a federal jury awarded him $1 million in 1976 after finding that Sears had obtained his patent fraudulently; Sears appealed to the Supreme Court and lost.
9. During Canada’s chicken and egg war, protectionist regulations in Ontario and Quebec restricted Manitoba’s cross-provincial sales of poultry and eggs. Manitoba deliberately copied Quebec’s egg-marketing scheme and proposed it as its own, then asked the Manitoba Court of Appeal to rule on its constitutionality. When the court declared the regulations unconstitutional, Manitoba appealed its intended loss to the Supreme Court of Canada. In 1971, the Supreme Court ruled that interprovincial trade belonged exclusively to federal jurisdiction, making similar provincial trade barriers unconstitutional across Canada.
10. In August 2001, a former schoolmate named DeAngelo Bailey sued American rapper Eminem for $1 million, alleging that the song “Brain Damage” defamed him and invaded his privacy. Released on the 1999 album The Slim Shady LP, the song portrayed Bailey as a school bully who repeatedly harassed and assaulted Eminem. In 2003, Michigan judge Deborah Servitto dismissed the case because the lyrics told exaggerated stories that listeners would not reasonably accept as fact. She delivered part of her opinion in rap-like rhyme and concluded that Eminem deserved summary disposition.
11 Bear Guilty Of Stealing Honey
In 2008, a Macedonian beekeeper named Zoran Kiseloski sued a bear after it repeatedly raided his hives and stole honey. Kiseloski tried frightening it away with bright lights and songs by Serbian turbo-folk star Ceca, but the bear returned when his generator ran out of power and the music stopped. After a year-long case, the Bitola court found the bear guilty of theft and criminal damage. Because the animal had no owner and belonged to a protected species, the court ordered the Macedonian state to pay Kiseloski 140,000 denars for the damage.
12. In May 1932, American singer and actress Helen Kane, known as the “Boop-Boop-a-Doop Girl,” sued Max Fleischer and Paramount for $250,000, claiming Betty Boop copied her appearance, voice, and signature singing style. Animator Grim Natwick later admitted that he designed the character from a photograph of Kane, while several early Betty Boop voice actors had entered a contest for Kane impersonators. During the 1934 trial, the defense presented testimony that Kane adopted her booping style after hearing a young African American entertainer named Esther Jones, better known as Baby Esther. The judge ultimately ruled that Kane had provided insufficient evidence and found in favor of Fleischer and Paramount.
13. In 2017, singer Kylie Minogue won a trademark lawsuit against Kylie Jenner over the name “Kylie.” Jenner had applied to register the name for advertising and endorsement services, prompting Minogue’s company, KDB, to oppose her application. In its filing, KDB described Minogue as an internationally renowned performer known worldwide simply as Kylie, while dismissing Jenner as a “secondary reality television personality.” The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected Jenner’s application at that stage.
14. Supreme copied artist Barbara Kruger’s white Futura text on a red box when creating its famous box logo. In 2013, Supreme filed a $10 million lawsuit against the women-run clothing company Married to the Mob after it tried to trademark its parody brand, “Supreme Bitch.” Complex editor Foster Kamer asked Kruger for comment, and she responded with a Word document titled “fools.doc.” Inside, Kruger wrote, “What a ridiculous clusterfuck of totally uncool jokers,” and said she was waiting for everyone involved to sue her for copyright infringement.
15. In August 2019, a Kentucky man named Kevin Berling suffered a panic attack and left his own surprise office birthday party after his employer, Gravity Diagnostics, held it despite his request. He had warned the Covington medical laboratory that being the center of attention could trigger his anxiety disorder, but its office manager forgot. His managers confronted him the next day, triggering another panic attack, and later fired him after interpreting his behavior as angry and potentially violent. Berling sued for disability discrimination and retaliation, and a Kentucky jury awarded him $450,000 in 2022, including $300,000 for emotional distress and $150,000 for lost wages and benefits.
16 Mum Bett Sued For Freedom
In 1780, an enslaved woman named Elizabeth Freeman, then known as Bet or Mum Bett, reportedly heard the newly ratified Massachusetts Constitution read in Sheffield and learned that it declared “all men are born free and equal.” Inspired by those words, she asked abolition-minded lawyer Theodore Sedgwick to help her sue enslaver John Ashley for her freedom. Sedgwick brought the 1781 case Brom and Bett v. Ashley alongside another enslaved man named Brom, and a Great Barrington jury ruled that Ashley did not legally own either plaintiff. The court awarded them 30 shillings in damages, and their victory helped establish legal precedents that later ended slavery in Massachusetts.
17. An Israeli woman sued Channel 2 and the television weather forecaster Danny Rup after his prediction of sunshine, led her to leave home lightly dressed, only for rain and storms to arrive. She claimed that the weather gave her the flu, forced her to miss four days of work, cost her $38 in medication, and caused stress. She demanded $1,000 and an apology through small claims court. Channel 2 settled the case outside court for $1,000, and Rup apologized.
18. In March 1998, American comedian and actor Dana Carvey underwent double bypass surgery at Marin General Hospital for a blocked coronary artery, but the surgeon bypassed a healthy artery instead. The intended artery lay deep in Carvey’s heart muscle and remained blocked, leaving him with angina until doctors cleared it through an angioplasty in May 1998. Carvey sued the surgeon for $7.5 million in San Francisco Superior Court, and they settled the case in May 2000 for an undisclosed amount. Carvey said he would divide the settlement among several charities, with most supporting cardiac research.
19. In 1980, American ice cream company Häagen-Dazs sued fellow American brand Frusen Glädjé to stop it from using a “Scandinavian marketing theme.” Häagen-Dazs objected to details including Frusen Glädjé’s ingredient lists, serving directions, and map of Scandinavia. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York rejected the claim under the legal doctrine of unclean hands. The court found that Häagen-Dazs had also marketed itself as Danish despite having no genuine connection to Denmark or Scandinavia.
20. For nearly 30 years, a California farmer named Craig Underwood and his family business, Underwood Ranches, exclusively supplied the chile peppers used in Huy Fong Foods’ popular green-capped Sriracha. Their partnership collapsed in 2017 after Huy Fong demanded more than $1 million in alleged overpayments and sued the farm. In 2019, a Ventura County jury found Huy Fong liable for breach of contract and fraud, awarding Underwood $24.8 million while granting Huy Fong $1.5 million, producing a net award of $23.3 million. Underwood Ranches then began selling its own Sriracha, while Huy Fong sourced peppers from growers in California, New Mexico, and Mexico.
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
21 George Harrison’s Autograph Guitar Lawsuit
After English musician and former Beatle George Harrison died from lung cancer in 2001, his widow, Olivia Harrison, sued a doctor named Gilbert Lederman over his conduct during Harrison’s experimental radiation therapy at Staten Island University Hospital. Her 2004 lawsuit alleged that Lederman forced Harrison, while he was in pain and lacked his full mental faculties, to listen to the doctor’s young son play guitar and autograph the instrument. She also accused Lederman of discussing Harrison’s condition with the media. They settled out of court on the condition that the guitar be destroyed.
22. In 1996, a California woman named Denise Rossi won $1.3 million through an office lottery pool, then filed for divorce from her husband of 25 years, a photographer named Thomas Rossi, just 11 days later without disclosing the prize. More than two years after the divorce, Thomas received a misdirected letter addressed to Denise from a company offering lump-sum payments for lottery winnings. He confirmed the prize with the California State Lottery Commission and took her back to court. In 1999, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge found that Denise had violated asset-disclosure laws and acted with fraud or malice, so he awarded Thomas the entire jackpot instead of the half he would normally have received.
23. In 1977, Elan Merchandising, acting on behalf of the Tolkien Estate, threatened Dungeons and Dragons publisher TSR with $500,000 in damages. The demand targeted TSR’s Battle of the Five Armies board game and its use of dragon, dwarf, elf, ent, goblin, hobbit, orc, balrog, and warg. TSR dropped the board game and changed hobbits to halflings, ents to treants, and balrogs to balors, while retaining generic names such as dragons, dwarves, elves, goblins, and orcs. The parties settled out of court, so no judge formally ruled the remaining words public domain.
24. In 2000, a white American-born man named Debito Arudou became a naturalized Japanese citizen, yet the Yunohana Onsen bathhouse in Hokkaido still refused him entry because of his foreign appearance. The manager acknowledged Arudou’s citizenship but said his appearance could drive Japanese customers away. In 2001, Arudou and two men named Kenneth Lee Sutherland and Olaf Karthaus sued the bathhouse operator for racial discrimination. The Sapporo District Court declared the blanket exclusion illegal and ordered the bath house to pay each plaintiff 1 million yen, about $25,000 combined, with higher courts later upholding the ruling.
25. In 2013, NYPD officers arrested three Brooklyn men named Love Olatunjiojo, Omar Ferriera, and Jimmy Santos in Coney Island after mistaking Jolly Rancher candies for crystal meth. Officers stopped Olatunjiojo and Ferriera outside an IT’SUGAR store, while they arrested Santos after he protested in front of his 3-year-old daughter and an officer allegedly punched him. Police held the men for about 24 hours after a field test reportedly identified the candy as drugs, but an NYPD laboratory later confirmed it contained no controlled substances. New York City settled their lawsuit for $33,000, paying $4,000 each to Olatunjiojo and Ferriera and $25,000 to Santos.
RE: Fact #49 (Valencia’s Bat Predated Batman’s Emblem) – This reminds me of when Fox used a YouTube clip in Family Guy without the creator’s permission, and then proceeded to get the original video taken down from YouTube for “copyright infringement.”
RE: Fact #40 (Scott Stapp’s Sex-Video Lawsuit Settled) – I really appreciate Scott taking steps to keep that tape from getting out.
He didn’t really kill the release, though. The content was already out there; he just stopped them from profiting off more copies. You can definitely still find it on torrent sites if you look. I remember when a clip popped up of him acting incredibly arrogant about it. Also, Kid Rock only seemed to care about his reputation because he didn’t want to be associated with Scott.
RE: Fact #15 (Birthday Party Firing Cost $450, 000) – There is a lot of context, but basically they threw him a party he repeatedly asked them not to hold due to his panic disorder, then bullied him for leaving. So many stories exist of people being forced into events they clearly stated they didn’t want to attend, only to be shamed for not having the “right” reaction.
They forced it on him, then fired him for having an anxiety attack, the exact thing he warned them about. It’s like they were playing a game to see how many terrible moves they could make at once.
RE: Fact #7 (Textbook Reseller Won First-Sale Rights) – Of course they did.
Good for him. My English department just buys a couple of copies and lets us scan them. It is legal here for non-profit education, and our library even has scanners that make it easy without wrecking the books. If the prices weren’t insane, I’m sure people would buy them, but nobody is going to drop two months of rent on a textbook. The publishers can get lost.
This reminds me of a lawsuit involving Costco and Omega watches. It is often cited alongside that textbook case in legal discussions regarding the first-sale doctrine.
RE: Fact #31 (Movie Texting Triggered $17.31 Lawsuit) – In my state, it costs $31 just to file a claim for under $500. And that doesn’t even count the service of process fees, which are even higher.
RE: Fact #22 (Lottery Secrecy Cost Entire Jackpot) – What kind of lawyer did she have that didn’t warn her this might happen?
RE: Fact #43 (Restaurant Radio Was Not Performance) – As a bar owner, I have to pay four different shakedown groups: ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, and Alltrack. They are extremely aggressive with legal action. I know a bar owner who ignored them, got sued, lost, and had their wages garnished. We tried using SiriusXM for Business to cover the first three, but Alltrack claims that doesn’t count. Bottom line: they’re all scumbags.
RE: Fact #12 (Helen Kane’s Boop Lawsuit Backfired) – So… did Baby Esther ever get compensated for having her act stolen by both of them?
No. Baby Esther was only about ten when the trial happened, and she didn’t participate since people thought she was in Paris. She had a huge world tour and was really big in Europe for a while, then went to South America and had a lot of success there too. When she eventually came back to the US, she worked for Cab Calloway for a bit, but then a rumor started that she had died. She was already starting to outgrow her ‘little girl’ image and just kind of vanished from the scene.
RE: Fact #28 (Barbara Bagley Legally Sued Herself) – >Bagley, who sued under Utah’s wrongful death and survival action statutes, brought suit to compel State Farm Insurance Company, with whom she maintained a motor vehicle insurance policy, to indemnify her.
So she sued herself as the driver who caused the crash just to force the insurance company to pay out more to her as the heir.
RE: Fact #46 (Carborundum Rejected Lanier’s $10, 000 Offer) – A friend of mine is a lawyer who used to handle these cases for a firm representing victims. It’s always a win; it’s just a matter of settling the payout. By the time asbestos-related cancers show up, the victim often doesn’t survive until the end of the trial, so it’s usually children and spouses crying on the stand with maybe a recorded deposition of the person who passed away. It’s heartbreaking because those companies knew the risks and chose to put workers in danger for profit.
It depends. With mesothelioma, it’s just a matter of the payout, but you have to prove which product caused it. Lung cancer is more complicated because if someone smoked two packs a day for 50 years, that factors in. Still, most mesothelioma cases happen so late that the victims don’t last long.
RE: Fact #18 (Dana Carvey’s Wrong-Artery Surgery Lawsuit) – He’s reportedly worth 20 million, so donating 7.5 million is a huge deal. Nothing but respect for that.
RE: Fact #24 (Debito Arudou Beat Bathhouse Discrimination) – There is a Finnish-born member of the Diet, actually. As for Debito, he is a difficult person, but perhaps necessary. Japan has anti-racism laws, which is how he won, but they are rarely enforced. You still see apartments with “no foreigners” policies. Employers often overlook candidates who look foreign, and plenty of bars or onsens will turn people away. If you look foreign, even if you are fourth-generation Japanese and only speak the language, people will treat you like an outsider. Debito has made it his mission to fight this, but he does it in a grating way. He intentionally goes to places looking for a fight so he can scream about his rights. He writes very harsh articles and calls people out with a holier-than-thou attitude. He is like a self-appointed Rosa Parks. Some people think he is doing the right thing by forcing a conversation about racism. Others feel he is hurting the cause because he is the only voice most Japanese people see, and he just tells them they are bad people who need to change their culture.
Many landmark civil rights events in the US involved people who specifically targeted places known for racist policies. People might think MLK wouldn’t do that, but he absolutely did.
RE: Fact #29 (Storage Wars Planting Claims Survived) – They clearly realized he was the main draw and brought him back. Money talks.
That’s wild to me, because everyone else was way less irritating, and some of them were pretty annoying. I think Barry was the only one I genuinely liked.
RE: Fact #19 (Häagen-Dazs Lost Scandinavian Marketing Lawsuit) – That’s funny. They should just stop pretending to be Scandinavian!
RE: Fact #25 (Jolly Ranchers Cost NYPD $33, 000) – > Court documents filed in connection with the drug possession charges against Olatunjiojo and Ferriera asserted that the cops had performed a field test on the candy and it tested positive for a controlled substance.
The police lied throughout the entire arrest. They claimed they saw them conducting a drug deal. They ran a field test on the candy. It felt like they were just looking for any reason to arrest them. Even after their friend tried to intervene, the police still insisted they did nothing wrong. Also, what exactly is a ‘quality of life’ summons?
Those field tests aren’t even admissible in court. They’ve been proven to be totally ineffective.
RE: Fact #5 (Rectal Exam Included Television Actors) – Imagine watching TV and seeing a face you recognize. “Wait a minute, that is the guy who was looking in my ass!”
RE: Fact #32 (Keanu Reeves Beat Paparazzo Claim) – > ## Reeves cleared in paparazzo lawsuit > It took a year and a half for a tabloid photographer’s lawsuit against actor Keanu Reeves to make it to trial and just over an hour for a jury to decide the man didn’t have a case. > > The Los Angeles County Superior Court panel in downtown Los Angeles cleared the film star of any liability Monday in a 2007 incident in which a paparazzo alleged that Reeves bashed into him with his Porsche in Rancho Palos Verdes. > > The photographer, Alison Silva, maintained that he suffered a broken wrist that left him unable to hold the large cameras necessary for his job. He asked for $711, 974 in compensation for medical bills and other damages. > > Reeves, who attended the trial, insisted that he never hit Silva, who had trailed him to a medical facility, where he was visiting a relative. The actor testified that as he inched the vehicle forward to leave, the photographer tripped over his own feet and fell to the ground. > > A radiologist told jurors the wrist fracture appeared to be an old injury, and an emergency room doctor said Silva admitted hurting his wrist playing soccer as a youth in Brazil. > > Silva said he had moved on to shooting videos for tabloid sites after the injury, but on the witness stand, he acknowledged that his decision was motivated by better pay rather than pain. Reeves’ lawyers produced a video shot after the incident in which Silva used his hands to get down from a fence where he was trying to shoot video of Britney Spears. The video, the defense said, proved Silva’s injuries were nonexistent. > > “It’s time to end his 15 minutes [of fame], ” attorney Alfred Gerisch said Friday. > > Silva was undaunted as he left court. > > “I respect the jury’s decision. This has been a life experience for me, ” he said. Asked if he would seek out Reeves as a subject in the future, he smiled and said, “Why not?”
Shouldn’t there be a penalty for filing a frivolous lawsuit? Maybe making the paparazzo pay the legal fees, or at least letting the jury decide on that as an option?
RE: Fact #33 (Marvel Investigators Created Lawsuit Evidence) – I made my favorite character in that game: The Walmart Greeter. Blue vest, brown pants, kung fu moves, and perfectly polite to everyone.
RE: Fact #13 (Minogue Blocked Jenner’s Kylie Trademark) – Jenner tried to trademark the name Kylie in the US for advertising and endorsement work, but was blocked by Minogue because she already owned that trademark across multiple business sectors. The block was later lifted once Minogue was satisfied that Jenner wouldn’t interfere with her own interests.
RE: Fact #13 (Minogue Blocked Jenner’s Kylie Trademark) – Kylie Jenner and her team tried to take over Kylie Minogue’s website, kylie.com, arguing that the younger Kylie was the “famously recognized name.” That argument was completely shot down by Minogue’s team, pointing out that she had owned kylie.com since 1996, a year before Jenner was even born.
The massive ego on these LA types is insane. What’s worse is the total lack of self-awareness and privilege; they don’t contribute a single useful thing to society.
RE: Fact #44 (Nikko Jenkins Filed Wrongful-Release Lawsuit) – there should be accountability for letting this guy out. He clearly needed serious mental health intervention long before he turned to murder. He was a danger even back when he brought a gun to school at age seven and should have been removed from his parents’ care permanently. He never should have been released.
His entire life serves as evidence of how every single authority figure failed him.
RE: Fact #12 (Helen Kane’s Boop Lawsuit Backfired) – Fun fact: Mae Questel voiced Betty Boop for the longest time, but she was also known for playing Olive Oyl and Aunt Bethany in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.
Christmas Vacation makes me cry specifically because of her. When Aunt Bethany starts saying the pledge of allegiance and everyone just goes along with it, I bawl. There is something about the whole family just saying, “whatever, why not” instead of making her feel silly that really gets me. I should mention that this is my go-to example when I admit I can cry during “any” movie. At all. Anyway, I am glad to know this about her. Thanks.
RE: Fact #42 (Dell Defects Hit Its Lawyers) – We dealt with plenty of those OptiPlex models that had caps blow and leak. I spent time soldering replacements, but eventually, we just swapped them all out.
I was an intern at the time, and identifying that issue and coordinating the repairs with Dell is actually what got me hired and kicked off my IT career. Thanks, Dell.
RE: Fact #36 (Whataburger Rivals Kept Both Names) – As a California native, I’m just gonna say it: Whataburger is better than In-N-Out, hands down. Don’t at me, it’s not up for debate.
Agreed. When In-N-Out came to Texas, we all lined up, tried it, and realized our Whataburger was way better. Sorry.
RE: Fact #2 (Lottery Tip Unleashed Lawsuits, Kidnapping) – >a simple Google of past lottery winners will present you with dozens of examples of how such a life changing win can quickly turn your life upside down. >The man from Georgia that invested his $3 million winnings in a meth ring. Urooj Khan was poisoned a day after winning in $1 million in July 2012. Michigan winner Amanda Clayton was found dead from a drug overdose less than a year after winning $735, 000. In March 2012, a New Jersey jury unanimously decided that Americo Lopes had cheated his coworkers out of their share of a $38.5 Mega Millions jackpot lottery pool. Lopes claimed he had won the jackpot on a personal ticket but the panel rejected that theory. The jackpot was ultimately distributed among the five men who were in the lottery pool with Lopes. >And then of course there’s the story of a Larry Payne, the East Alabama man who forgot about a lottery ticket in his truck. With just a few weeks before the ticket was due to expire, Payne lent the truck to his nephew. The nephew found the ticket and told his uncle. They thought it was only worth $600. Excited by the find, Payne’s nephew told his boss. It later transpired the ticket was worth $1 million. The boss claimed that Payne’s nephew had stolen the ticket off her desk. The case went to court and Payne was awarded the winnings.
RE: Fact #26 (Cult Awareness Network Became Scientologist-Run) – Here are some other popular facts that show just how dangerous and bizarre the Church of Scientology is. [Fact: In 1995, the Church of Scientology kept a mentally ill woman imprisoned, dehydrated, and starving for 17 days until she passed away.] [Fact: A boy died from a gunshot wound while visiting his Scientologist father. It was ruled a suicide, but his prints weren’t on the weapon, the bullet was missing, data was wiped from his laptop, and the father called David Miscavige’s sister before calling 911.] [Fact: Police in Clearwater, FL, received 161 emergency calls from the Fort Harrison Hotel over 11 months. Each time, security for the Church turned them away, claiming there was no emergency.] [Fact: Following South Park’s Scientology episode, the Church hired people to spy on Matt and Trey, looking for anything to use for blackmail. They got frustrated when they found nothing but that they are pretty normal people.] [Fact: The Church of Scientology once tried to frame a critic for terrorism.] [Fact: In 2009, Wikipedia banned the Church of Scientology from editing any pages.] [Fact: When the Church first moved to Clearwater, Florida, their goal was to take over the city. They were only stopped after an expose in the St. Petersburg Times.]
RE: Fact #8 (Ratchet Inventor Beat Sears Fraud) – > On further appeals he was granted $5 million in damages, however the lawsuit continued, and in 1989 it was reported that he had finally settled with Sears for $8.9 million
Haha, wow.
RE: Fact #22 (Lottery Secrecy Cost Entire Jackpot) – That is how hiding assets in a divorce usually goes. If you get caught, your spouse ends up with the whole thing. The only thing notable here is that it happened to be lottery money.
RE: Fact #3 (Tech No-Poaching Pact Cost $435M) – The worst part is when Steve Jobs found out a Google recruiter was talking to an Apple employee. He contacted Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who fired the recruiter and messaged Jobs back with a smiley face.
RE: Fact #23 (Tolkien Estate Forced TSR Renamings) – That is it, I am trademarking “water” and “watery”. The rest of you can just deal with it.
RE: Fact #27 (Facebook Boast Cost Father $80, 000) – I think you mean her father violated a confidentiality agreement by sharing the news with his daughter.
RE: Fact #39 (MBTA Lawsuit Spread Security Details) – Great work, Boston transit. You just ensured that the next major security hole will be kept quiet and exploited rather than reported.
RE: Fact #18 (Dana Carvey’s Wrong-Artery Surgery Lawsuit) – “While he was in the hospital for his final angioplasty, Frank Sinatra died in the room adjacent to his.” How is that not the bigger story here?
RE: Fact #20 (Underwood Ranches Won $23.3M Countersuit) – Sriracha’s flavor always shifted a bit because the peppers changed throughout the season. They never really tried to blend batches for consistency. The whole situation is tragic because they had a great partnership for about 25 years. As the sauce got more popular, the company would tell the farmer how much more they needed, and he would expand his land and crew to keep up. They weren’t trying to stiff their suppliers; it was a real partnership.
RE: Fact #10 (Judge Rhymed Eminem Defamation Dismissal) – Good to see that judge’s career worked out well. She ended up on the Appeals court a few years after this.
RE: Fact #37 (AutoZone’s PowerZone Trademark Lawsuit Failed) – Funny how years later, AutoZone is still thriving while Radio Shack is a total relic.
RE: Fact #30 (Student’s Teacher Joke Cost $425, 000) – >Sagehorn, then 17, tweeted, “Actually, yeah, ” but later maintained he said it in jest. > >The district suspended him for five days, then extended it to 10 days, and then to nearly two months. Sagehorn says he was forced to withdraw and attend another school to avoid expulsion.
RE: Fact #20 (Underwood Ranches Won $23.3M Countersuit) – The founder said the new sauces were an attempt to ruin his company, but there are tons of pepper sauce makers out there. They should have considered this outcome before taking their primary supplier to court. If the recipe was the secret to their success, they shouldn’t be surprised that a supplier started doing their own thing once they were sued.
RE: Fact #47 (Fiat Love Letters Frightened Women) – I feel for the women who had to explain to their partners they weren’t cheating, and even after the marketing campaign was exposed, they probably still lived under a cloud of suspicion. “How many times do I have to tell you, Tony? The letters were from Fiat! They got sued! It was in the papers! Vafangool!”
RE: Fact #13 (Minogue Blocked Jenner’s Kylie Trademark) – Yeah, well, Jenner never starred in a Street Fighter movie or sang any wicked Murder Ballads with Nick Cave.
RE: Fact #43 (Restaurant Radio Was Not Performance) – I feel like if you’re comfortable with your music being on the radio, you shouldn’t mind people hearing it on the radio in public.
RE: Fact #17 (Weatherman’s Sunny Forecast Cost $1, 000) – The weatherman’s legal team should seriously reconsider their jobs. How on earth did this even make it to court?
RE: Fact #10 (Judge Rhymed Eminem Defamation Dismissal) – >Way before my baby daughter Hailey, >I was harassed daily by this fat kid named D’Angelo Bailey. >An eighth grader who acted obnoxious, ’cause his father boxes, >So everyday he’d shove me in the lockers. >One day he came in the bathroom while I was pissin’, >And had me in the position to beat me into submission. >He banged my head against the urinal ’til he broke my nose, >Soaked my clothes in blood, grabbed me and choked my throat. >I tried to plead and tell him, “We shouldn’t beef” >But he just wouldn’t leave, he kept chokin’ me and I couldn’t breathe.
RE: Fact #19 (Häagen-Dazs Lost Scandinavian Marketing Lawsuit) – Häagen-Dazs doesn’t even look or sound Scandinavian. It leans more Hungarian, though Frusen Glädje actually makes sense.
RE: Fact #19 (Häagen-Dazs Lost Scandinavian Marketing Lawsuit) – Apparently Häagen-Dazs is meant to look Danish, even though that language doesn’t even use the letter combination ‘ä’ like that, and ‘z’ only shows up in loan words.
I’m Norwegian, and I don’t think any Scandinavian language uses ‘ä’ and ‘a’ together. The ‘z’ looks like something from Central Europe, specifically Hungarian.
RE: Fact #24 (Debito Arudou Beat Bathhouse Discrimination) – Racism in Japan is a serious issue. I was there for a week, and there were plenty of places where a foreigner was barred from entry. Ironically, as a white guy in America, I never faced blatant racism until I traveled to Japan. It was shocking to see people treated that way, but it made me realize how similar issues have existed in America since the country began. It was a real wake-up call regarding how painful true racism is. There were so many restaurants and places I wanted to visit, but we couldn’t get in unless our Japanese concierge booked it or we had an Asian tour guide with us. This trip opened my eyes, and now I have a better understanding of what minorities deal with every day here at home.
Minorities aren’t getting denied access to restaurants in America, I’m not sure where you got that idea.
RE: Fact #24 (Debito Arudou Beat Bathhouse Discrimination) – Gomenasai, my name is Ken-Sama. I’m a 27-year-old American Otaku. I draw anime on my tablet and spend my days playing superior Japanese games. I train with my katana every day; this weapon is folded over a thousand times and is far superior to anything else on Earth. I earned my sword license two years ago and keep getting better. I speak fluent Japanese and know all about the bushido code. When I get my visa, I’m moving to Tokyo to attend a prestigious high school. I hope to become an animator for Studio Ghibli. I own several kimonos I wear around town to get used to them so I can fit in better. I bow to my elders, but rarely does anyone manage to respond. Wish me luck in Japan!
RE: Fact #47 (Fiat Love Letters Frightened Women) – “Yesterday we saw each other again. We met on the street and I noticed how you glanced interestedly in my direction. I only need to be with you for a couple of minutes, and even if it doesn’t work out, I promise you won’t forget our little experience together.”
RE: Fact #38 (Cena Settled Ford GT Lawsuit) – if you have the money to buy a car like that, you can probably afford to pay whatever settlement Ford demands for breaking the contract.
RE: Fact #34 (Kidnapper Sued Hostages For $235, 000) – “Is… Is he asleep?” “I think so.” “Let’s get out of here!” “Should we? We promised to stay.” “What? Get the hell out of here!” “I want to leave, but we gave our word.” “Are you crazy? We’re hostages!” “It’s the honor system. We’re expected to keep it.” “The honor system? This guy is holding us at knifepoint!” “Well, I’m not leaving. A promise is a promise. If we bolt now, we’re no better than him.” “He’s a fugitive who attacked us! Let’s escape while we still can!” “You go if you want to, I’m staying.”
RE: Fact #44 (Nikko Jenkins Filed Wrongful-Release Lawsuit) – I understand the technicalities, but the phrase ‘four consecutive death sentences’ will never not be ridiculous. I just picture a team of doctors ready to declare him dead and another team waiting to resuscitate him immediately afterward.
RE: Fact #29 (Storage Wars Planting Claims Survived) – As someone who works in storage, this checks out. People make money off auctions, but it’s usually from tools, furniture, or electronics. Most people aren’t keeping anything valuable AND interesting in a locker unless they are hoarders, and those people are usually too possessive to let their units go unpaid for.
RE: Fact #16 (Mum Bett Sued For Freedom) – After she won her freedom, she changed her name to Elizabeth Freeman. Her former master asked her to keep working for him for a wage, but she chose to work for the lawyer who helped her win the case instead.
RE: Fact #45 (Stacey Hightower’s Fatal 911 Delay) – I can’t imagine a judge hearing that and thinking, “Yeah, that makes sense, but I’m going to have to owe you one.”
RE: Fact #21 (George Harrison’s Autograph Guitar Lawsuit) – She also helped fend off the intruder who broke into their house. If I remember correctly, she used fireplace pokers. I think the guy had a knife, which is how George Harrison ended up getting stabbed.
RE: Fact #50 (Professor’s License Listed Clean Toilets) – I can see why he sued. I lived in Bozeman for a while, and the culture is definitely racist. If I were a betting man, I’d say the professor had dealt with plenty of slights during his time there and just decided this was a good chance to make an example of someone.
RE: Fact #1 (Skiplagged Founder Faced Airline Lawsuit) – As I understand it, he found a way to book a flight with a layover in your actual destination city. If you aren’t checking bags, you just walk out of the airport at the layover, skip the last leg of the trip, and you’re where you need to be.