6 of the strangest lawsuits making headlines
The following lawsuits exemplify the lighter, and sometimes bizarre, side of the legal world.
July 11, 2012 at 09:08 AM
5 minute read
The original version of this story was published on Law.com
Salt Snafu
Talk about pouring salt in a wound. A Grand Blanc, Mich. woman is suing Wal-Mart and Morton Salt after suffering an injury allegedly caused by a defective bag of salt. Judith Custer says she was shopping for a 40-pound bag of Morton salt rust-remover pellets at a local Wal-Mart when the bag's handle snapped, causing her to hit herself in the right eye. As a result, she claims she suffered injuries including temporary loss of vision, a possible retinal tear and detachment and a partial vitreous detachment.
Custer and her husband Aaron say that Morton was negligent in manufacturing a defective bag, and that Wal-Mart employees mishandled the bag, causing it to tear more easily. The couple is seeking at least $25,000 in damages from the two companies.
Sammy Squabble
At first, it sounds like a sad but standard story about a pair of exes waging a bitter custody battle. But Scott Smith and Anna Camara aren't fighting over a child—they're fighting over custody of their dog's website.
Smith's 7-year-old Pomeranian, Sammy, rose to Internet fame last year when Smith and Camara launched “Sammy and the City,” a website featuring pictures and videos of the dog's wanderings through New York City. Sammy's exploits garnered 40,000 monthly website visitors, 51,000 Instagram followers and more than 10,000 Facebook and Twitter followers.
Unfortunately, Sammy's fame outlived Smith and Camara's relationship. When the couple split last year, they continued to work on the website together. But Smith says his ex-girlfriend recently changed the passwords, locking him out of the site. He's now suing her for $500,000 in lost revenue, even though he acknowledges that “the site never made a penny.”
Airport Anguish
Between the luggage fees, security lines and flight delays, going to the airport can be a hassle for just about everyone. But one Miami woman had an especially bad trip when she reportedly lost part of her finger to an airport Smarte Carte. According to Fidelina Cordero's lawsuit, she rented one of the luggage carts while traveling for Thanksgiving, when it “tipped over for unknown reasons, causing her to amputate the tip of her right index finger.”
Cordero is suing Smarte Carte Inc. for negligence, saying it “should have known that the luggage cart would tip over when operated on irregular surfaces.” She also claims that the cart was “devoid by design of any stabilization device,” and that it had inadequate warnings and usage instructions.
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