Outrageous Personal Injury Lawsuits

It has become apparent that many lawsuits are being made where the claims are often seen to be more on the frivolous side. Quite a few of the claims filed sound and read absurdly ridiculous, but there seems to be no length that some people will go to making money, which in some cases can be a very significant sum.

Here are some of the cases filed that often seem to make the top lists for the more frivolous and outrageous claim –

A very common case referred to relates to the McDonalds trial dating back to February 1992. After visiting a local drive-though McDonalds for a coffee, Stella Liebeck was sitting in the car, which was stationary at the time, and lifted off the cups plastic lid, in the course of doing this, steaming hot coffee spilt onto Liebecks legs. The result of this was that Stella Liebeck experienced third degree burns to about 6% of her body. In view of this bodily damage, she sought damages from McDonalds at an amount of $20,000. MacDonald's in turn declined to settle out of court. However, when the case went to trial Stella Liebeck was awarded a settlement of $160000 in compensatory damages. It was also determined at trial that she was deemed to be 20% at fault for the resulting accident. In addition to the compensatory damages, Liebeck was also given punitive damages to the tune of 2.7 million.

In the unfortunate accident in Galveston Bay in 1992, Karen Norman, aged 23, reversed her vehicle in the water. Karen Norman wasn't able to unbuckle the seat, most due to the fact that she have been drink early (alcohol blood level at .17 which is double to limit), and drowned. The passenger in the vehicle was able to work her belt and escaped from the vehicle and made it back to dry land. After the incident, the parents of Karen Norman proceeded to sue the vehicle manufacturer, which was Honda in this situation, for designing a seat belt that wasn't easy operated underwater. In the trial proceedings the jury determined that Honda was 75% at fault for the incident and an award of $65 million was presented to the family.

In Ohio in 1998, Gregory Roach and Gordon Falker, where unfortunate to be burnt by a carpet adhesive (3.5-gallon container) which ignited due to the fact that it was left in place next to a water heater. Roach and Falker both believed that the labels on the adhesive container weren't sufficiently descriptive. Warnings of Keep Away from Heat and Flammable weren't enough to alert them to the possibility of an explosion. In view of this, a personal injury claim was filed against Para-Chem who were the manufacturers. It was deemed by the jury that the Para-Chem was at fault and the two gentlemen were award a cool $8 million.