Common Good, the organization founded by author/attorney Philip K. Howard (The Death of Common Sense, The Collapse of the Common Good) and dedicated to “Reforming America’s Lawsuit Culture”, has announced its picks for Top 5 Ridiculous Lawsuits awards of 2003, in what is intended to be a continuing annual series. Two of the five have been written up previously on this site: Blair Hornstine’s suit demanding to be made sole valedictorian of her school in Moorestown, N.J. (see Aug. 21, Jul. 12 and links from there) and a jury’s award of $10 million against the state of Washington over an assault committed in part by two foster kids in the state’s foster care program (see Nov. 24). The other three:

* Perri v. Furma Restaurant, Inc. (Illinois Court of Appeals, Jan.): “Parents can sue Chinese restaurant for hot tea burn, even though a child from their family caused the burn by spinning the lazy susan.”

* Gary Dailey v. Board of Review, et. al (Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, Nov.): “Truck driver, who lied about having driver?s license, wins suit to get unemployment benefits.”

* Ellen Hall v. Tim Henn, et. al (Illinois Supreme Court, Dec.)(unpublished opinion): “Woman who broke her arm on backyard snow luge can sue neighbor who invited her and other friends and neighbors to use the luge.” The court held that a state statute protecting landowners from liability for opening their land to the public did not apply to invited guests and that the luge could be “considered an ‘unnatural and dangerous condition’ even though the victim called and asked if she and her daughter could come over and use it.”

Filed under: Illinois, personal responsibility, West Virginia, workplace