As personal injury lawyers, we often see the same type of claims day-in and day-out: the standard slip and fall, vehicular accidents, defamation, medical malpractice. Once in a while, though, a personal injury case arises that is so memorable that it’s virtually unforgettable. Read below as we share some of our absolute favorites.
Weirdest Personal Injury Lawsuits include:
- The Seatbelt Debacle – Flashback to 1992 Texas: Karen Norman was so intoxicated that when she backed into an estuary after trying to turn around, she drowned. She’d been trapped inside the vehicle. It was argued that she couldn’t unbuckle her seat belt, and therefore Honda was partially implicated in the personal injury. The damages awarded were…drumroll please….$65 million. The award was later reduced and overturned.
- Lukewarm Coffee, Please – Perhaps the most memorable of weird personal injury lawsuits comes to us courtesy of red-hot java and the golden arches. Who remembers how much McDonald’s had to pay Stella Liebeck, who sued the restaurant giant because she experienced third-degree burns to her pelvic region? We’ll remind you: It was $3 million in punitive damages.
- Fear Factor Malaise – When Austin Aitken saw contestants chugging rat remains out of a blender, he claims to have vomited and run himself into a wall. What followed was likely a headache – and most definitely a suit against NBC for $2.5 million. The case was dropped. One can only hope Austin stuck to daytime soap operas after that.
- Thumbs Up – What happens when a bathroom door is missing a knob? If you’re Cedrick Makara, you push and pull until someone else helps you out and opens the door suddenly, injuring your thumb. Poor thumbkin required surgery and six months’ leave from work. Cedrick won $3 million recompense for his pain.
- This Bud’s for You – Spoiler: Sometimes advertising can be a little too realistic. When scantily clad women did not appear after Richard Overton drank a Budweiser, he sued the company. After all, the company’s advertising seemed to suggest that drinking a Bud would make such women immediately appear. No, he didn’t win a dime.
Personal injury doesn’t always follow the straight-and-narrow definition. In fact, when we examine the definition of ‘pain and suffering,’ that phrase means different things to different people. If you think you’ve suffered a personal injury, contact the Coleman Law Group. We specialized in helping our clients recover – in more ways than one.
