# The Stupidest Lawsuit Since the World Began **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 16, 2005, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-lawsuit-since-the-world-began/312839 "2005-07-16T23:06:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Papermache\_Prince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-lawsuit-since-the-world-began/312839/1 "2005-07-16T23:06:49Z")
Or so claims the Groklaw blog. The [New York Times item](http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/16/technology/16online.ready.html?ex=1122177600&en=59a98d657827acfe&ei=5065&partner=MYWAY) (where I read about it first) points to this [Groklaw article](http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20050712045953910). Actually, Alan Hargreaves found it and then told me about it, so I guess the trophy goes on his mantlepiece, not mine. According to the Sydney Morning Herald [sub req’d], a transit company is suing a group of ten cleaning women in France, because they are car pooling instead of continuing to use their service. The Guardian has the story too. The number comes from this French account. The transit company lawyers call that “unfair and parasitical competition.” They are asking for damages, including fines and – believe it or not – confiscation of the women’s cars.The entry’s quite a bit longer and includes links to the Sydney Morning Herald and The Guardian. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2005, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-lawsuit-since-the-world-began/312839/2 "2005-07-16T23:40:07Z")
Astonishing, and I mean it. Guess there are no penalties for trivial lawsuits in France. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-lawsuit-since-the-world-began/312839/3 "2005-07-17T06:08:38Z")
Well, I dunno… there’s a lot of competition for stupidest lawsuit ever. I’d nominate the lady who sued the Winter Garden Theater on Broadway, claiming she’d been sexually harassed by Rum Tum Tugger. Seriously- for those who don’t know, during Rum Tum Tugger’s number in “Cats,” he always jumps into the audience, picks a woman out of the front row and dances around with her for a few seconds. MOST of the time, the woman in question gets a big kick out of it. But one female patron claimed to be outraged, saying that Tugger had injured her wrist and done lewd gyrations in front of her. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-lawsuit-since-the-world-began/312839/4 "2005-07-17T06:13:36Z")
… was just last week when a [Russian woman sued NASA](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050705/ap_on_fe_st/russia_comet_case) for “ruin(ing) the natural balance of forces in the universe” by crashing a space probe into a comet. ---
**Author:** ![MidnightRadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@MidnightRadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MidnightRadio)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-lawsuit-since-the-world-began/312839/5 "2005-07-17T06:18:40Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Well, I dunno… there’s a lot of competition for stupidest lawsuit ever. I’d nominate the lady who sued the Winter Garden Theater on Broadway, claiming she’d been sexually harassed by Rum Tum Tugger. > > Seriously- for those who don’t know, during Rum Tum Tugger’s number in “Cats,” he always jumps into the audience, picks a woman out of the front row and dances around with her for a few seconds. MOST of the time, the woman in question gets a big kick out of it. But one female patron claimed to be outraged, saying that Tugger had injured her wrist and done lewd gyrations in front of her. Yeah, I read about that in a biography of Andrew Lloyd Webber. Apparently, Rum Tum Tugger’s “lewd gyrations” included pushing his crotch into her face (or toward it or something). I doubt it was as bad as she made it out to be, but man, what I wouldn’t give to have been there that night. Oh, and she didn’t just sue the theatre, she sued Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh, too. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-lawsuit-since-the-world-began/312839/6 "2005-07-17T07:42:50Z")
Woohoo!!! America passes on the trophy for most moronic current lawsuit that we have held since precambrian times [sub]for at least 15 minutes or so[/sub]. U.S.A! U.S.A! we’re not dead last! we’re not dead last! ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-lawsuit-since-the-world-began/312839/7 "2005-07-17T16:00:26Z")
So can I sue Andrew Lloyd Webber just for all the crappy music? ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-lawsuit-since-the-world-began/312839/8 "2005-07-17T18:43:16Z")
Didn’t someone try to sue God in the past few years? Something about it being God’s fault that a steel mill was closed? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-lawsuit-since-the-world-began/312839/9 "2005-07-17T19:22:59Z")
There’s no one stupidest lawsuit. There’s a category of lawsuits that are as stupid as anything in the universe can be, and many lawsuits fall under it. ---
**Author:** ![brownie55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f14d63/32.png) [@brownie55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brownie55)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2005, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupidest-lawsuit-since-the-world-began/312839/10 "2005-07-17T19:26:36Z")
> [@Baldwin](#): > > So can I sue Andrew Lloyd Webber just for all the crappy music? Yeah, doesn’t it make you wish she had won?