See, now THIS is an example of a ridiculous lawsuit.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2007-06-28 03:54am

Starburst Fruit Chews are exactly as their name would indicate: chewy. But one Michigan woman says the candies are so chewy, they should come with a warning label.

Victoria McArthur, of Romero, Mich., is suing Starbursts' parent company, Mars Inc., for more than $25,000 for "permanent personal injuries" she claims she sustained after biting into one of their yellow candy in 2005.

"I don't know, maybe about 3 chews and it literally locked my jaw … and it just literally pulled my jaw out of joint," she told MyFoxDetroit.com.

McArthur's lawyer, Brian Muawad, says the candies caused her to develop a condition known as temporal mandibular joint dysfunction. McArthur says she has had trouble chewing, talking and sleeping since the incident.

Muawad says McArthur offered to negotiate a settlement with Starburst's insurer to pay for her rehabilitation, but the company said no way. A spokesman for Mars refused to comment.

McArthur says she just wants to make sure nobody else meets the same end she did when she decided to indulge her sweetooth.

"I don't want to see anybody else have to go through what I have gone through from eating a piece of candy that was supposed to be soft chew," she said.

source

rhoenix · Post by **rhoenix** » 2007-06-28 03:57am

I can only imagine the warning label to come from this.

I had this as my signature for a while, and it really is true - humanity's greatest talent really is unintentional comedy.

Temjin · Post by **Temjin** » 2007-06-28 04:04am

She probably got tired of buying lottery tickets.

Fire Fly · Post by **Fire Fly** » 2007-06-28 04:05am

An amusing picture of the plaintiff in question:

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2007-06-28 04:31am

If she "just wanted to make sure no-one else meets the same end", why didn't she simply contact the company and inform them that their product might be dangerous? I'm sure there isn't a company on the planet who would ignore a vocal client who was injured by their product.

Could it be that she just...wants money?

Tanasinn · Post by **Tanasinn** » 2007-06-28 05:07am

Why do morons like this have to come from my home state?

Patrick Degan · Post by **Patrick Degan** » 2007-06-28 10:21am

You'd still have to go quite a way to beat The Case Of The $54 Million Pair Of Pants.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2007-06-28 11:59am

Okay, now I would have believed it if she had complained about the candy messing up some dental work but actually locking her jaw?

To me that would mean that there is something wrong with her jaw and that maybe she got an abnormal Starburst candy.

Those things can be really sticky and chewy at times so I could see a person losing a crown or filling when eating them but the jaw lock thing. Plus, did her jaw and sleeping problems develope from eating one Starburst or is she a habitual Starburst eater? Did she keep eating them after she first noticed problems?

Can she eat caramel or is it only Starburst that cause her problems.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2007-06-28 02:46pm

Patrick Degan wrote:You'd still have to go quite a way to beat The Case Of The $54 Million Pair Of Pants.

That depends on whether she wins.

PS. A few years ago there was a couple that went through a place called "African Lion Safari" around here. They have lions and you drive your car through the safari area to look at them, or you can take a bus tour. There are, of course, huge signs warning you not to get out of your vehicle or open your windows. Naturally, some white-trash idiot and his stripper girlfriend rolled down their windows so they could get a better picture of the tigers, and were promptly mauled. They sued the park ... and won. They claimed that the tiger bumped the car, causing the driver to accidentally jostle the window controls and roll down the power window. They got millions.

Tribun · Post by **Tribun** » 2007-06-28 02:55pm

There is something I tried to find out, but my sources are quite limited.

I heared many stories by now of totally crazy lawsuits, where people went to the courts for the most ridiculous, stupid and retarded things, but actually got the jackpot and secured the rest of their lives with multi-millions of dollars, after they won.

Is this actually true, or is it overblown?

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2007-06-28 04:04pm

Tribun wrote:There is something I tried to find out, but my sources are quite limited.

I heared many stories by now of totally crazy lawsuits, where people went to the courts for the most ridiculous, stupid and retarded things, but actually got the jackpot and secured the rest of their lives with multi-millions of dollars, after they won.

Is this actually true, or is it overblown?

If you can't come up with anything more specific than vague generalizations, I wouldn't hold your breath as to it being true. Or if there are at least some people who have pulled this off, not true the way it's sensationalized.

General Trelane (Retired) · Post by **General Trelane (Retired)** » 2007-06-29 02:08pm

Darth Wong wrote:A few years ago there was a couple that went through a place called "African Lion Safari" around here. They have lions and you drive your car through the safari area to look at them, or you can take a bus tour. There are, of course, huge signs warning you not to get out of your vehicle or open your windows. Naturally, some white-trash idiot and his stripper girlfriend rolled down their windows so they could get a better picture of the tigers, and were promptly mauled. They sued the park ... and won. They claimed that the tiger bumped the car, causing the driver to accidentally jostle the window controls and roll down the power window. They got millions.

Personally, I think the owners of that Safari were idiots. If I operated such a Safari, there's no way in hell I'd let people drive their own vehicles through it. The animals are far too valuable to risk that way!

metavac · Post by **metavac** » 2007-06-29 02:13pm

General Trelane (Retired) wrote:
Darth Wong wrote:A few years ago there was a couple that went through a place called "African Lion Safari" around here. They have lions and you drive your car through the safari area to look at them, or you can take a bus tour. There are, of course, huge signs warning you not to get out of your vehicle or open your windows. Naturally, some white-trash idiot and his stripper girlfriend rolled down their windows so they could get a better picture of the tigers, and were promptly mauled. They sued the park ... and won. They claimed that the tiger bumped the car, causing the driver to accidentally jostle the window controls and roll down the power window. They got millions.
Personally, I think the owners of that Safari were idiots. If I operated such a Safari, there's no way in hell I'd let people drive their own vehicles through it. The animals are far too valuable to risk that way!

Here's a link to the ruling and judgement.