Just when you think you've heard of the most absurd lawsuit...

[Danny_Ocean]

...another even more ridiculous pops up:

Lawsuit in Texas Car Contest Suicide Settled
The Associated Press
Article Launched: 08/17/2008 02:35:21 PM MDT

LONGVIEW, Texas—A Texas car dealership has settled a lawsuit filed by the widow of a man who killed himself after dropping out of a contest in which participants tried to keep their hand on a vehicle the longest.
Details of the settlement between Patterson Nissan of Longview, in east Texas, and Chalala Gutierrez, the wife of contestant Richard Thomas Vega II, are confidential, officials said.

The suit, settled Thursday, focused on a 2005 contest in which the winner of the "Hands on a Hardbody" contest was awarded a Nissan truck and other prizes.

Just before a scheduled rest break 48 hours into the event, Vega dropped out, crossed a street and broke into a Kmart store, where he took a gun from a case and shot himself.

In her suit, Gutierrez alleged that the dealership was negligent in organizing and conducting the contest. She likened Vega and other contestants' stress and sleep deprivation to "brainwashing" and said the dealership failed to provide a safe environment for contestants who "temporarily lost their sanity."

Court documents show damages sought included funeral costs, lost income of about $600,000 and court costs.

Attorney Adam Allen said the dealership was happy with the result.

An attorney for Gutierrez said the settlement resolved all the allegations in the lawsuit. The contest was featured in a 1990s documentary by the same name. It has not been restaged since Vega's death.

[ramonesfreak]

they must have settled because the jury turned out to be a little risky as far as the dealership was concerned. i cant imagine how they did not get this tossed prior to trial. maybe they settled for a few hundred bucks

[Danny_Ocean]

How did it even make it as far as court?!? That's the amazing part.

You hold a contest, I voluntarily show up but leave early. Blow my brains out during the commission of a felony and my heirs sue the crap out of you...AND WIN!



God bless America.

[svandamme]

it's a stupid idea to organize such contests,
frankly , you deserve to get sued just on the basis of that...

It's like that woman who drank so much water to win a playstation or something, not knowing you can effectively kill yourself with water...which she found out the hard way afterwards

I think there are more absurd lawsuits then this

Sleep deprivation is just about as dangerous as OD'ing on alcohol

Nobody would think this suit was absurd, if the contest would have been a drinking one, and one of the participants got him self buggered that way... in fact, i think there are laws against feeding folks booze when they are past a certain point...

real sleep deprivation, and i don't mean just skipping one night of sleep, is a ticket to temp insanity... that's a fact... organizing an event like this, well, if you keep em awake, they will get sleep deprivation and you are taking a gamble with very bad odds..