25 Mind-Boggling Lawsuits That Really Exist

America's powerful judicial system allows people to seek justice through the courts for what they consider perceived wrongs. And why many lawsuits are actually legitimate, some cases involve claims that may not be seen by all as unjust. Remember the woman who was burned by hot coffee at McDonald's and won $2.9 million from the company? That was not the first frivolous or absurd lawsuit and certainly won't be the last.

From a kidnapper suing his victims for not helping him evade authorities to people filing lawsuits because they claim to be misled about the sugar content of a snack, there are plenty of odd lawsuits that seem unbelievable. Read on and decide for yourself whether these cases have merit.

To uncover some of the strangest lawsuits filed in recent history, 24/7 Tempo searched online archives of various news sites like CNN, Reuters, and NBC. We focused on lawsuits stemming from what most folks would consider very minor inconveniences. Some cases involve marketing claims taken out of context or interpreted too literally, while others are downright bizarre and seem unreal. Some of these lawsuits even end up being fodder for late-night comedians. (Check out the hardest working comedians of all time.)

• Year: 2017
• Result: Case dismissed

Sugar goes by 61 different names, which can make it difficult for some people to recognize it on nutrition labels. This confusion led to a California woman, Jessica Gomez from San Bernadino County, to sue Jelly Belly for using the term "evaporated cane juice" instead of "sugar" on its jelly beans' labels. She claimed the company was misleading consumers about the sugar content, despite the total grams of sugar per serving being clearly displayed. The case was eventually dismissed.

• Year: 2018
• Result: Plaintiff lost

A 69-year-old Dutchmanm, Emile Ratelband, wanted to legally change his age to avoid ageism. He argued that his actual age was affecting his job prospects and success on Tinder, a popular dating app. The judge explained that many rights and obligations are based on age, and changing one's legal age could lead to numerous complications.

• Year: 2016
• Result: Case was settled

It started in 2013, when a teenager measured his Subway footlong sandwich. It turned out to be only 11 inches, an inch too short. Fast forward three years, and the company was settling a class-action lawsuit in court, promising to make its rolls 12 inches. The only people to benefit from the lawsuit were the attorneys, who were about to receive $520,000 in fees. The judge agreed with activist and legal writer Theodore Frank that this was not fair and dismissed the settlement and the entire case.

• Year: 2017
• Result: Lawsuit dropped

Many people have a story about a date gone wrong, but most would forget about the ordeal once it was over. However, a 37-year-old from Austin, Texas, couldn't let go of his bad experience and sued his date. He was offended that she spent their time at the movies watching "Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2" texting on her phone. He claimed her behavior violated theater rules and ruined his movie-watching experience. She agreed to reimburse him $17.31 for her movie ticket if he left her alone. Shortly after, he withdrew the lawsuit.

• Year: 2018
• Result: Case dismissed

Biola Daniel and Abel Duran from New York, along with Trekeela Perkins from Mississippi, believed that Tootsie Roll Industries Inc. deceived customers by underfilling Junior Mints boxes, with over a third of the box being empty. They sued the company, but the judge dismissed the case, stating in a 44-page decision that a reasonable customer would expect some empty space in the packaging.

• Year: 2014
• Result: Plaintiff lost

Shayn Proler, a member of the Houston Fire Department, had a fear of fire. Due to his fear, he was reassigned to an office position to avoid direct contact with fire, but he wanted to remain in his former role in the fire suppression unit. Proler claimed his fear constituted a disability and that he was discriminated against because of it. His case reached the Texas Supreme Court, which ruled that there was no evidence he was discriminated against based on a disability.

• Year: 2016
• Result: Settled out of court

Red Bull's famous slogan "Red Bull gives you wings" got the company in some trouble. A class-action lawsuit accused the company of having misleading ads and making false claims. Plaintiffs said the energy drink did not give people wings, even figuratively speaking, that is, they didn't feel energized. They said the company lacked evidence to claim the beverage could improve one's focus. Red Bull settled out of court and agreed to pay $640,000.

• Year: 2012
• Result: Lawsuit dismissed

Jesse Dimmick, a fugitive facing a murder charge, kidnapped a Kansas couple in September 2009. At some point he fell asleep and they escaped. They sued Dimmick for over $75,000 in damages. His response was to countersue for breach of contract. He claimed he and the couple had a legally binding oral agreement for them to hide him from the police. His case was dismissed.

• Year: 2018
• Result: Lawsuit dismissed

Two McDonald's customers from Florida sued the fast-food chain for $5 million, arguing that they were charged the same price for a Quarter Pounder without cheese as for one with cheese despite a difference of about 30 cents. A judge dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning they cannot refile the lawsuit. The dismissal was based on the plaintiffs' inability to prove that the price they paid caused them any harm.

• Year: 2015
• Result: Plaintiff lost

A woman from New York said she fell down the stairs at the Grand Central subway station, injuring her foot and ankle, after seeing an oversized "scary" poster for the popular Showtime series "Dexter." The poster showed the face of the main character under a plastic wrap with his eyes open. She claimed it was "disturbing, provocative, shocking and fear inducing." The judge disagreed, dismissing the case, saying the network was under no obligation to maintain the stairs at the station or that it created a dangerous condition.

• Year: 2012
• Result: Plaintiff won

Boy meets a pretty girl, boy marries the girl; they have kids. One similar tale did not have such a happy ending, however. Jian Feng from China saw his newborn daughter, who, he said, was "incredibly ugly" and did not look like either parent. He accused his wife of cheating on him. At that point, she admitted she had several plastic surgeries before they had met. He sued on the grounds of false pretenses, claiming she misled him by hiding her cosmetic history. He won the case, and his wife was ordered to pay him more than $120,000.

• Year: 2016
• Result: Case dismissed

You can't get that last bit of lip balm out of the tube unless you scrape it out. While this has been true since lip balms have been sold in tubes, a California woman filed a lawsuit alleging consumers were conned into thinking they could reach the bottom with their lips when they can actually use just about 75% of the product. The court disagreed that Fresh Inc., the company being sued, tried to lie about the real quantity of its lip balm and that a reasonable consumer understands how such dispenser tubes work.

• Year: 1993
• Result: Plaintiff lost

Beer commercials often feature beaches and good-looking men and women having fun. Most people understand this is not real, but not Richard Overton. In 1993, he sued Anheuser-Busch for $10,000 for false advertising. He claimed the beer ad caused him emotional distress, mental injury, and financial loss. Overton said the company's ads showed beer's ability to enable "scenic tropical settings beautiful women and men engaged in unrestricted merriment" when this was actually not the case. He lost the suit.

• Year: 2006
• Result: Lawsuit dropped

Many people would be thrilled to resemble a celebrity, but Allen Ray Heckard from Portland felt differently about looking like Michael Jordan. Heckard sued the basketball legend and Nike for over $800 million, claiming he had been mistaken for Jordan every day for the past 15 years, causing him permanent injury and emotional distress. Heckard eventually dropped the charges without giving a reason.

• Year: 2019
• Result: Trial pending

A Tennessee man sued Popeyes Louisiana Chicken for $5,000 after the fast food chain ran out of its famous chicken sandwich, claiming the restaurant wasted his time trying to fulfill his order. Craig Barr accused the company of deceptive advertising, as the sandwich was only available for a limited time in August. Barr is also seeking damages for his car, which he alleges were incurred in the restaurant's parking lot.

• Year: 1995
• Result: Case dismissed

Prison inmate Robert Lee Brock is nothing if not creative. Brock, serving time for breaking and entering at the Indian Creek Correctional Center in Virginia, sued himself for $5 million, claiming that he violated his religious beliefs and got himself arrested. And since he has no income because he is in jail, Brock asked the state to pay as he was a ward of the state. The judge dismissed the case.

• Year: 2016
• Result: Case dismissed

California resident Alexander Forouzesh threatened a class action against Starbucks, saying customers who ordered cold drinks from the beverage giant received less liquid in their cups than advertised because of too much ice. A district judge put the case on ice. He ruled that even kids know ice in a cup reduces the amount of liquid they get, and customers can also clearly see the amount of ice in a clear cup and ask for less ice.

• Year: 2017
• Result: Unknown

A French businessman sued Uber for $48 million, alleging that a flaw in the ride-sharing app contributed to the dissolution of his marriage. He stated that he had borrowed his wife's phone to log into the Uber app, and a glitch caused the app to continue sending notifications of his whereabouts to her phone even after he logged off. Some of his movements reportedly led to marital issues, eventually ending in divorce. The outcome of the lawsuit is unknown.

• Year: 2002
• Result: Plaintiff won

A federal jury awarded $24.2 million to two men who were severely burned by electrical wires while trespassing on railroad property in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 2002. Attorneys for Amtrak and Norfolk Southern Corp. argued that the two men, who were 17 at the time, were old enough to understand the risks they were taking. The plaintiffs' lawyer, acknowledged that his clients were trespassers but maintained that the property owners were still responsible for the injuries.

• Year: 2017
• Result: Plaintiff lost

A 15-year-old boy in Spain sued his mother, claiming he was mistreated after she took his cellphone to try and get him to study. He also sought jail time for his mom and reimbursement for his legal expenses. A judge ruled in favor of the mother, saying she was within her rights and acted responsibly to get her son to crack the books.

• Year: 2007
• Result: Plaintiff lost

A court ruled against the dissatisfied customer of a Washington, D.C. dry cleaner — who sued the dry cleaner for $54 million for allegedly misplacing his pants — and ordered him to pay the company its legal fees. The customer, administrative law judge Roy Pearson, also could not prove the store lost his pants. Pearson's suit was based on the claim that the store's sign said "Satisfaction Guaranteed." The case drew national attention as well as sympathy for the defendants, who received funds online for their defense.

• Year: 2008
• Result: Lawsuit never filed

In a tale fit for Gotham City tabloids, the mayor of Batman, an oil-producing city in southeastern Turkey, announced plans to sue Warner Bros. and director Christopher Nolan for using the city's name without permission in the film "The Dark Knight." Mayor Huseyin Kalkan sought compensation from the movie's royalties, claiming its success had negative psychological effects on the residents and harmed local businesses attempting to register in other countries. However, the lawsuit was never actually filed.

• Year: 2003
• Result: Plaintiff lost

Brian Delekta was a senior at Memphis High School in Michigan and believed his work experience as a paralegal at his mother's law office for one of his classes merited an A+ instead of an A. His family sued to raise the grade to A+, which would have made him valedictorian of his class. The suit also asked that publication of class rankings be blocked until the case was settled. The plaintiff lost.

• Year: 2008
• Result: Case dismissed

The parents of Danbury High School student Vinicios Robacher said their son suffered hearing loss after one of his teachers slammed her hand on his desk to wake him up during a math class. The family sued the school, the school board, and the city. But apparently the case fell on deaf ears and collapsed.

• Year: 1996
• Result: Settled out of court

A woman from Haifa, Israel, sued well-known television weatherman Danny Rup for a false weather forecast. Rup had predicted sunny weather, but it rained. Relying on the forecast, she left her house unprepared, fell ill, and missed work. The woman argued that Rup's forecasts were legally binding. She won $1,000 in an out-of-court settlement and received an apology from the weatherman.