Most Ridiculous Lawsuits of 2009

Swimming pool pregnancy, double-murderer's truck claim: '09's strangest suits.

ByABC News
December 30, 2009, 5:57 PM

Dec. 31, 2009 — -- What makes for an outrageous lawsuit? Try a convicted double murderer suing for the ownership of his victims' car or a tourist suing a hotel because, she claimed, its pool got her daughter pregnant.

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, these were two of the five most ridiculous lawsuits of 2009.

The chamber's Institute for Legal Reform released the list, which is based on responses to FacesofLawsuitAbuse.org, a Web site seeking to raise public awareness of "how abusive lawsuits affect small businesses and average families in very real ways," the chamber said in a statement.

"While ridiculous lawsuits may be easy fodder for late-night television hosts, they are no laughing matter for the defendants targeted," said ILR President Lisa Rickard.

The five lawsuits were:

A Dallas woman sued a former neighbor and a landlord, claiming the neighbor's smoking damaged her townhouse.

"Smoking is not a right, it's a privilege," Chris Daniel, a retired nurse, told The Dallas Morning News in September. "I'm sorry that people smoke. I think it's foolish, but when it comes into my house and hurts my health and my daughter's health and our belongings, it's a different issue."

Daniel said that the damage caused by smoke seeping into her home from the neighbor's adjoining residence would force her to reupholster her furniture, restore artwork and dry clean clothing.

A manager and lawyer for Estancia Townhomes, where Daniel lived, told the newspaper it was unlikely that Daniel's home actually sustained any smoke damage.