7 of the strangest lawsuits making headlines
A nude beauty queen, Humphrey Bogart's coat and five more strange lawsuits in the news
August 08, 2012 at 09:00 AM
5 minute read
The original version of this story was published on Law.com
Sorry Charlie…
Many have suffered the injustice of opening a bag of potato chips and finding a few measly crumbs inside, and it appears the problem is spreading. Three major tuna fish companies have agreed to pay $3.3 million to settle charges that they put more liquid than fish in their cans. Several California counties began investigating Starkist, Chicken of the Sea and Bumblebee when an employee at the state's Department of Food and Agriculture became suspicious of their cans' liquid to tuna ratio. In addition to paying each county $969,500, the companies will also dole out $300,000 in canned tuna to California food banks.
Testy Truckers
An Oregon truck repair business is suing an advertising company for erecting a billboard that's offensive to the company's customer base. But it's not nudity or profanity that has these truckers ticked off—it's the sign's fancy lettering and pastel colors. Coast Truck Centers says that it has final approval on any billboards that Meadow Outdoor Advertising puts up on its land. But the ad company allegedly broke that agreement when it surreptitiously installed an ad for Bonneville Hot Springs Resort & Spa.
Coast Truck Centers says that the billboard's promotion of “such a lavish, upscale and expensive resort,” combined with its purple hue and “artistic, cursive writing” offends its client base. Spa managers, however, are puzzled by the suit, saying that truckers regularly frequent the resort.
Medical Mishap
A New York family is suing a hospital for allegedly rejecting a man's corpse because he was overweight. Engineer George Cardel wanted to donate his body to science, so when he suffered a fatal heart attack, officials at Long Island Jewish Medical Center say they tried to send his body to the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine at Hofstra University. But the university, and several other hospitals, rejected Cardel's 300-pound body and returned him to relatives after 13 days. His family is now seeking $2 million for “grave humiliation.”
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