14 DAY TRIAL // We've seen plenty of ridiculous lawsuits about pretty much nothing, from too-hot coffee sold by McDonald's to a misplaced pair of pants at a dry cleaner, but a lawsuit filed last month by a Manhattan man might qualify as the most ridiculous ever.
Well, given that in a democratic country people have the opportunity to freely use the courts to achieve justice, a Manhattan man has decided to sue almost everyone in New York City for an astronomical sum - two undecillion dollars.
According to New York Post, Anton Purisima, 62, is suing New York City, NYC Transit, Hoboken University, two local hospitals, a bakery called Au Bon Pain Store, Kmart, as well as a “Latina” dog owner and is requesting damages for “civil-rights violations, personal injury, discrimination in national origin, retaliation, harassment, fraud, attempted murder, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and conspiracy to defraud.”
Purisima filed the hand-scribbled lawsuit in Manhattan federal court in April, and he doesn't have a lawyer, as he decided to represent himself in the case.
Because the 22-page document was handwritten, it's pretty difficult to understand all the alleged crimes Purisima is accusing the numerous defendants of, but the amount in damages he is seeking to obtain is correctly listed in the complaint. The ginormous number is written with a “2” followed by 36 zeros, and it represents more money than currently exists on the planet.
Among his claims, the most legible ones refer to an incident in which his middle finger was allegedly bitten off by a “rabies-infected” dog on a city bus, and one in which a “Chinese couple” took unauthorized photos of him while he was being treated at a local hospital. The man claims the pain and damages he suffered can’t be measured in money and are, therefore, “priceless.”
As The Time reports, this is not the first time Purisima has been involved in bizarre lawsuits, as he has previously sued the People’s Republic of China and several major banks, including Wells Fargo, JP Morgan and Wachovia.
After noticing an increase in the number of “frivolous lawsuits” filed in the US, some activists and politicians have decided to push for tort reform. Tort, along with contract, real property and criminal law, is one of the four major areas of law, and it describes disputes in which one person is harmed by another. Therefore, tort reform would reduce the litigation of and damages awarded in these types of cases.