The U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform announced the results of its1st Annual Most Ridiculous Lawsuit of the Year Poll. Nominees were drawn from FacesofLawsuitAbuse.org, a public awareness website that shows how frivolous lawsuits affect small businesses and average families.
The Top Five Most Ridiculous Lawsuits of 2009 are:
- Neighbor sues woman for smoking in her own home;
- Double-murderer sues to claim his victims’ classic Chevy pickup;
- Holocaust denier sues Auschwitz survivor, alleging memoir contains “fantastical tales;”
- Tourist sues hotel, claiming swimming pool got daughter pregnant;
- Illegal immigrants sue rancher who stopped them on his property at gunpoint and turned them over to the Border Patrol.
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But my favorite, which was the September 2009 finalist, did not make the cut. The case involves a woman who fell and was injured at the dolphin show at the Brookfield Zoo, a world class zoo that I have visited many times. The plaintiff alleges that the Zoo “recklessly and willfully trained and encouraged the dolphins to throw water at the spectators in the stands making the floor wet and slippery", "failed to provide warnings of the slippery floor" and “failed to provide mats … when the staff knew the floor would get wet and slippery,” among other negligent acts.
Everyone who attends a dolphin show knows there is going to be excitement, thrills, and yes, lots of water being splashed about. That is part of the experience. While being injured is unfortunate, to not take personal responsibility and then file suit against the Zoo is ridiculous. I wonder what Flipper would say. Probably that he was just doing his job.
The moral is that even with good risk management practices frivolous suits are part of life for American businesses. Unfortunately we all end up paying the added price.
