FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT: Linda Okun
PHONE: (626) 824-8927
October 7, 2003
We’ve all heard stories of crazy lawsuits,
now in the midst of California’s recall madness, a nonprofit
group is holding an online election to recall the worst lawsuit
in recent years.
Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse has compiled a
list of seven lawsuit “candidates” which the group
says deserve to be recalled. The group has set up a special Web
site: recall-lawsuits.com, where visitors can vote for the one
lawsuit they think is the most outrageous.
“All of these lawsuits should be fired,”
says Linda Okun, CALA executive director. “They’ve
wasted the court’s time, cost taxpayers money, and delayed
justice for people with legitimate claims. Our lawsuit recall
election may result in a winner, but it only proves that when
people abuse our legal system, all the rest of us lose.”
CALA’s lawsuit recall candidates are:
Candidate #1: Hitting The Jack-Potty
A New York man won a $3 million jury verdict because he hurt his
thumb trying to exit the restroom of a Manhattan building where
he works. The stall in question apparently had a missing doorknob.
Makara reached his hand through a hole where the knob should have
been and pulled the door toward him just as someone entering the
bathroom pushed the door in. The lawsuit claimed the injury caused
the man to miss six months of work as a city claims examiner.
-New York Daily News, 5/21/03
Candidate #2: Shake It Up!
A Florida woman, who was taken off an airplane in Dallas and asked
to pull a vibrating sex toy out of one of her checked bags, has
sued Delta Airlines citing public humiliation. She claims she
had to hold it up for visible viewing. She was then allowed to
repack and return to her seat for the flight back to Florida.
-The Dallas Morning News – 7/28/02
Candidate #3: $100,000 Pop-Tart
A couple in New Jersey sued the Kellogg Co. as well as appliance
maker, Black & Decker Corp. for $100,000 in damages, alleging
that a cherry Pop-Tart they put in their toaster blew up and burned
down their house. The couple admitted to leaving their house while
the pop tart was heating up, despite the warning label on the
box advising against leaving food unattended in the toaster.
-Reuters, July 30, 2001
Candidate #4: You Snooze You Get Sued
Harvey Taylor, a convicted sex offender, has threatened to sue
detectives of the Penobscot County (Maine) Sheriff’s office
because he lost two toes to frostbite while trying to escape in
the Maine woods. Taylor had escaped from a County Sheriff, hid
in the woods in northern Maine for three nights, and has threatened
to sue the Sheriff because they were too slow in finding him.
-Bangor Daily News, 2/27/02
Candidate #5: Scared of the Dark
A Philadelphia man sued U.S. Airways for negligence, claiming
he thought the plane he was on had crashed and he was dead after
the crew left him asleep on the aircraft. “It was really
dark and he didn’t know if he was alive or dead.”
-The Birmingham News, 10/4/2001
Candidate #6: Chubby Cherubs
Three teenagers in New York City filed a class-action lawsuit
against McDonald's Corp., saying the fast food chain's food caused
them to gain as much as 200 pounds and develop serious health
problems related to being overweight.
- Los Angeles Times, 7/8/03
Candidate #7: Dog Psychology
Boomer, the dog, filed suit against an invisible fence company
for $25,000 for psychological damage he suffered after he ran
through the fence on his owner’s property.
-Associated Press, 5/11/01
Okun says CALA will announce the results of the
weekend during its observance of Lawsuit Abuse Awareness Week,
which is recognized nationally from October 6-10.
So what happens to the “winner?”
“What we really need is the ability to
go back in time and stop the lawsuit from happening, like a reverse
kind of `Minority Report,’” Okun said. “At best,
hopefully calling attention to these kinds of abuses will serve
as an example, and people will think twice before using our legal
system for greed instead of justice.”
Linda Okun is the Executive Director of Citizens
against Lawsuit Abuse in Los Angeles, a nonprofit, grassroots
public education organization. Write to her c/o CALA at P.O. Box
262 - Glendora, CA 91740, or via email at maryann@maryannmaloney.com.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you would like a CALA
speaker to address your organization or some information for your
organization's newsletter, let us know today.
CALA is a nonprofit, grass roots, public education
organization dedicated to serving as a watchdog over the legal
system and those who would seek to abuse it for undeserved gain.
More than 9,000 citizens and taxpayers are Los Angeles CALA supporters.
