10 Hilarious Court Cases – Amazing

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10 Hilarious Court Cases – Amazing

When we picture the inside of a courtroom, we think of a place where serious and unfortunate issues are debated. But sometimes when you read or hear the news of a person suing another individual or group of people for something downright crazy, you can’t help but smile. 

1. Claiming Harrier Jump Jet
In 1999, Pepsi ran an advert in the USA about a points scheme in which a teenager shows up in a Harrier jump jet, with the text: “HARRIER FIGHTER 7,000,000 PEPSI POINTS”. 

An enterprising 21-year-old saw that points could be bought for 10c each, and sent in a cheque for $700,008.50 to gain the required 7,000,000 points. 

When Pepsi refused to let him claim a jet worth roughly $23 million, he took them to court for breach of contract.

Disappointingly, Leonard’s claim was rejected on the basis that no one could reasonably take the advert’s offer seriously. 

But the court’s observations make for a great source of deadpan humour, with comments such as:

“The immature youth featured in the commercial is a highly improbable pilot, one who could barely be trusted with the keys to his parents’ car, much less the prize aircraft of the United States Marine Corps.”

2. Favourite Pants
In 2007, when Custom Cleaners, a neighbourhood dry cleaner, returned what Judge Roy Pearson claimed to be the wrong pair of pants, Pearson, an administrative law judge, decided to take action and sue for $67 million. 

He claimed that the pants he dropped off for alteration had been lost and the dry cleaner did not meet the claim of the “satisfaction guaranteed” sign that hung in the dry cleaner’s window. 

The $67 million, which later was lowered to $53 million, Pearson says was equal to claims for common law fraud violations. Pearson eventually lost the pant case after he failed to prove the trousers; he picked up were not his.

3. Beware of Killer Whales
In 1999, Daniel Dukes tragically died while trying to achieve his lifelong dream of swimming with a whale. He hid himself from the Sea World security guards and was killed by an Orca whale after the park closed. 

Daniel’s parents filed a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against Sea World for failure to display public signs warning of the dangers which whales can cause to humans.  The suit was quietly dropped later with no explanation for the family’s change of heart.

4. Tuition Non-Refundable
When Trina Thompson of New York was unable to find a suitable job following graduation from Monroe College, she filed a $72,000 case in 2009 against her alma mater. 

Thompson, who graduated with a 2.7 GPA, claimed the college’s career services department didn’t provide sufficient help with her job search and gave preferential treatment to students with excellent grades. 

She sought to regain the $70,000 she had spent on tuition for her bachelor’s degree in information technology plus an extra $2,000 for the stress caused during her three-month job search.

5. When it Rains it Pours
What happens when we put all our trust in a weather prediction? A bad day evidently. An Israeli woman sued a TV station when the weatherman wrongly predicted a nice day.  

The woman ended up getting caught in the rain, causing her to catch the flu, miss a week of work, and purchase medication.  She sued for $1,000, claiming that the incident caused her stress, and won the hilarious, but true court case.

6. Drunken Identity
In 1991, Richard Overton sued Anheuser-Busch for $10,000 claiming the company had falsely advertised the scene of beautiful women and men enjoying themselves while drinking beer.  

Overton was upset when he discovered this type of lifestyle was not a reality from merely drinking beer. His case was promptly dismissed.

7. Costly Break-Up
In 2011, Melissa Cooper was awarded $50,000 after she sued Christopher Kelley, her former fiancé and father of one of her children, for fraud and breach of promise. 

Kelley gave Cooper a ring in 2004. After a 10-year relationship he broke off their engagement for another woman. Kelley argued that the $10,000 engagement ring he’d given Cooper was not a promise of marriage; however, his argument did not hold up in court.

8. Waiting on a Train
In 2008, an Illinois woman Gayane Zokhrabov, 58, tried to sue the estate of Hiroyuki Joho, 18, an unfortunate victim of a train accident. While attempting to catch an inbound Metra train, Joho ran across the tracks and was struck by an Amtrak train traveling 70 mph.  

Portions of the victim’s deceased body struck Zokhrabov as she waited on a nearby train platform, injuring her shoulder, wrist and leg.  

The lower court judge dismissed the morbidly bizarre case, stating that the young man could not have predicted where his body would strike because he was dead. 

An appeals court later disagreed and said that it was “reasonably foreseeable” that a high-speed could kill Joho and send his flying body parts into crowds of waiting passengers.

9. No Name and No Game
Some people go to great lengths to look like their favourite celebrity. However, Allen Heckard of Portland, Ore., had often been confused for Michael Jordan and did not enjoy it.  

He sued the NBA star along with the cofounder of Nike, Phil Knight, in 2006 for $832 million. Heckard’s looks were not far off from the basketball legend, and he even sported a similar earring. 

But he was eight years older and six inches shorter than Jordan. Heckard dropped this hilarious, but true court case when he realized he had no reasonable explanation for the $832 million he was suing for.

10. Prevent Cricket Being Played
On the face of it, this case doesn’t seem that exciting. The Millers moved house next to a cricket pitch, and complained about the nuisance of the cricketers playing and cricket balls landing in their back garden. 

They went to court to try to prevent cricket being played there. They were turned down. But all the same, this case is one where virtually every Law student can quote at least some of the judgment. 

It opens, “In summertime village cricket is the delight of everyone. Nearly every village has its own cricket field where the young men play and the old men watch. In the village of Lintz in County Durham they have their own ground, where they have played these last 70 years. 

They tend it well…” and continues in a similar vein, with the judge, Lord Denning, wondering if the cattle that grazed there before houses were built objected to the cricket.

The final line of the Wikipedia entry on the case provides an equally enjoyable conclusion: “Not long after the case, the Millers moved house.”