Litigious has two meanings:-
1. Concerned with lawsuits or litigation.
2. Unreasonably prone to go to law to settle disputes.
Read these and decide which definition applies:-
Life Is Full Of Disappointments
In 1991, a man attempted to claim $10,000 for emotional distress caused by a beer company’s misleading advertisement. He claimed to have suffered mental injury and emotional distress as drinking the beer did not make his fantasies of bikini clad women in tropical settings come to life, as the advertisement suggested. In addition to the two claims of false advertising, he also claimed for financial loss in excess of $10,000 due to misleading Bud Light ads which drove him to buy more and more beer. Case dismissed.
Not Just In America
In Spain a man struck and killed a 17-year-old boy who was riding his bike. Even though the man was driving at 70 mph in a 55 mph zone, a judge dismissed criminal charges against him. Did he consider himself lucky under the circumstances? No. Two years after the wreck, he sued the boy’s family for damages to his Audi A8.
Cleaning Up
The worst part about this story is not that the man clogged up the legal system with a suit against a dry cleaner for $67 million over a pair of lost trousers; it’s that he was a Washington, D.C., judge at the time. He argued that dry cleaners failed to deliver on the “same-day service” and “satisfaction guaranteed” advertisement. He was later dismissed from his job for having poor judgement.
Going For A Thong
A woman claimed that she was injured by a defective thong. “I was putting on my underwear and the metal popped into my eye,” she told the Today show. According to her attorney, a rogue metal appliqué caused three cuts to her cornea, requiring the use of topical steroids to heal it.
Crying Over Spilt Coffee
After scalding herself by spilling a cup of McDonalds coffee on her lap a woman asked McDonalds to pay for the medical bills. When McDonalds only offered $800 she sued them for selling “unreasonably dangerous” coffee. The jury awarded her an outstanding $2.9 million in damages! McDonald’s argued the claim and the trial judge reduced the total award to $640,000. McDonalds reduced the temperature of their coffee to 60-70 degrees in order to avoid future law suits.
I’ll Sue Me!
A man sued himself in 1995 for violating his own civil liberties and religious beliefs by getting drunk enough to commit the crimes that landed him in jail. The jailbird hoped the state would be forced to pay on his behalf because he was a ward of the state. Case Dismissed.
Scary Stuff
In 1998, a woman claimed $15,000 in damages for physical injury, extreme fear, emotional distress and mental anguish after going on a theme park’s annual Halloween haunted house attraction. She claimed that the attraction was too scary causing her emotional distress. She also alleged that an employee chased her and her granddaughter towards an exit. This caused them to slip on the floor. She claimed that the employee continued to scare them as they lay helpless on the floor.
OMG!
A man claimed that he was so overcome by the spirit of God that he fell and hit his head while worshiping at a church. He is now attempting to claim $2,500,000 from the church to pay for medical bills, loss of income, pain and suffering. The 58 year-old, reportedly fell during worship whilst having a physical reaction to the spirit of God. He has since undergone two operations since the fall and blames the church for not providing someone to catch him in case the spirit of God were to take over his body. The church’s insurance company deny the claim stating that he should have noticed that no one was behind him to catch him.
It’s Always Someone Else’s Fault
In May 2008, an international student at Birmingham University sued them for £10,000,000 for failing his PhD. The student issued a claim against the university which he says was in breach of its duty of care towards him. The mechanical engineering student claimed he was “humiliated and scorned” by tutors at the University. He also claimed that the examiner in one of his oral tests was not an expert in the field and his two supervisors were biased against him. He is now seeking compensation for loss of his PhD and the stress caused as a result of unfair treatment. The claim also demands payment for the financial debt and interest accrued whilst he was at uni. The university issued a statement saying that his supervisors were concerned that he had not grasped the project and the nature of doctoral level research as being fundamentally different from a taught course’. The case continues.