7 of the strangest lawsuits making headlines
An alleged Hobbit rip-off, a spicy shot of tequila and five more strange lawsuits in the news
November 14, 2012 at 07:25 AM
13 minute read
The original version of this story was published on Law.com
Absent Antioxidants
If you are looking to add antioxidants into your diet, drinking a 7-Up is probably not the place to start. But one California man is suing the drink's maker, Dr. Pepper Snapple Group Inc., claiming that it falsely touted the health benefits of its 7-Up Cherry Antioxidant, Mixed Berry Antioxidant and Pomegranate Antioxidant drinks.
Advertisements and packaging for the supposedly antioxidant-rich drinks featured photos of fruit and blurbs such as “There's never been a more delicious way to cherry pick your antioxidant!” The drinks, however, contain no fruit or juice. Green, who is seeking class action status for his suit, says he would never have bought the beverages if he knew that the only antioxidant they contained came from added Vitamin E. Meanwhile, Dr. Pepper Snapple Group announced that it will no longer sell the offending products, although it maintains the decision is to maintain consistency across its bands.
Photo credit: Xaime Mendez
Spicy Shot
An Ohio man is suing a local bar for allegedly serving him a shot with an extra kick. When an employee at Adobe Gila's offered free shots to Brady Bennett and a friend, Bennett says the two men ordered Patron tequila with apple flavoring. Upon taking the shot, however, Bennett's attorney says that his client “immediately fell to the ground” and that “his nose and his mouth and his lungs felt as though they were on fire.”
According to Bennett's suit, when paramedics arrived, a bar employee told them that the shot contained ghost pepper extract from the Naga Bhut Jolokia chili pepper, which is 10,000 times hotter than Tabasco sauce. He is suing the bar for medical expenses and compensatory and punitive damages. The bar owner says that, although the shot may have contained hot sauce, the restaurant does not have ghost pepper extract on its premises.
Santa Song
Thanksgiving is a little more than a week away, but Ukranian singer Aza is kicking off the holiday season early with a lawsuit claiming that the chart-topping pop hit “Call Me Maybe,” is a rip-off of her tune “Hunky Santa.”
According to Aza, Canadian singer Carly Rae Jepsen's lyrics are “identical or substantially similar,” to those of Aza's ostensibly Christmas-themed song. “When I first listened to it on the radio while driving my car, I almost got into an accident. I couldn't believe what I was hearing,” the Ukranian songstress told E! News. She has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Jepsen, her cowriters and her record label, seeking unspecified damages and a court order prohibiting the distribution or sale of “Call Me Maybe.”
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