CALA LAUNCHES “LAWSUIT RECALL” ELECTION 

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 (CALA) 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 Don Wolfe, 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

Wolfe 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,’” Wolfe 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.”

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 6000 citizens and taxpayers are Silicon Valley, San Francisco and Monterey Bay Area CALA supporters.