8 of the strangest lawsuits making headlines
The following lawsuits exemplify the lighter, and sometimes bizarre, side of the legal world.
February 22, 2012 at 05:45 AM
5 minute read
The original version of this story was published on Law.com
Street Justice
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor settled an age-old suit when she visited Sesame Street to rule on Goldilocks v. Baby Bear. Goldilocks was charged with breaking and entering and destruction of property, namely Baby Bear's chair. Noting that “accidents happen,” Justice Sotomayor ordered Goldilocks to help Baby Bear repair his chair. And while some criticized the light sentence, Sesame Street residents seemed happy with the verdict.
Facebook Fraud
A Wisconsin woman is facing 33 fraud, theft, forgery and drug charges for allegedly selling fake Facebook stock after the social media site announced its plans to go public. Prosecutors say Marianne Oleson gave $14,000 of fake stock to a contractor in exchange for concrete work, and that she sold more than $40,000 of stock to another 66-year-old man. Oleson told the men she owned $1 million of Facebook stock because her daughter attended Harvard with company founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Internet Ire
Bad boyfriends beware: your indiscretions can now be used as online fodder by ex-girlfriends. This after a Manhattan district judge threw out a tortious interference lawsuit filed by Matthew Couloute Jr. Couloute sued two ex-girlfriends for allegedly posting insulting statements about him on LiarsCheatersRUs.com. One post called Couloute “scum”; another said the former prosecutor “lied and cheated his entire way through his 40 years of life.”
Couloute claimed that the anonymous posts damaged his professional image and made it difficult for him and his current wife to purchase a home. But Judge Harold Baer Jr. ruled that the statements were “hyperbolic statements of opinion,” which could not be shown to have harmed Couloute's business relationships.
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Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
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David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
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