Bizarre Celebrity Court Cases That Have Me Looking At Hollywood Very Differently
Celebrities tend to find themselves visiting courtrooms a little bit more than most of us normal people. Many times, they're defending themselves against someone just trying to make a buck off of their fame. Other times, they try to use their fame to settle absolutely absurd issues.
This article collects some of the craziest stories of frivolous lawsuits filed against or filed by our favorite celebrities. Some range from simple he said/she said to stolen identity, to childhood bullying (?). Some absolutely bizarre courtroom antics have occurred with celebrities that you never would've thought could pull it off.
The Inspiration...
The original inspiration for this article came when news recently broke that a nun died in the courtroom while trying to sue Katy Perry. Yes, it's bizarre. 80-year-old Sister Catherine Rose Holzman collapsed and tragically passed while trying to argue that her convent has the legal rights to land that Katy Perry currently owns.
The nuns purchased a convent in 1971 but were evicted by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 2011. That's when Perry swooped in and offered $14.5 million to buy the land and the Archdiocese agreed to that. But the nuns had previously sold the land for $15 million to another taker without knowledge of the current owners. Long story short, it must be weird getting sued by nuns.
Bill Maher Vs Orangutan
Remember that birth certificate fiasco that happened in 2011 regarding Barack Obama's birthplace led by Donald Trump? Well, it was ridiculous and rightly caught flak by comedians. Bill Maher took to his show, Real Time With Bill Maher, to make Trump an offer: if he can show the world that he's not the son of an orangutan he would give five million dollars to a charity of Trump's choice.
It was obviously a parody, but Trump sued Maher for five million dollars and sent him his birth certificate that proves he's not half orangutan. Well, it went to court and was quickly dismissed because, well, it's very dumb. You can't sue someone for five mil because of a joke on a comedy show.
Ron Livingston Vs Wikipedia
You may or may not know Ron Livingston the HETEROSEXUAL actor in Boardwalk Empire and The Conjuring. One day, Ron was surfing the web and landed on his Wikipedia page. He was frightened by the fact that his page said that he was interested in men.
He was so outraged that he filed a lawsuit claiming libel, privacy invasion and unauthorized usage of his likeness. The problem with this lawsuit is that Wikipedia is open to anyone to edit completely anonymously, meaning that Livingston would have a tough time finding the culprit. Also, being called gay doesn't legally count as defamation.
Mila Kunis Vs Stolen Chicken
A Ukranian singer by the name of Kristina Karo hit Mila Kunis with a $5000 lawsuit for an incident involving a chicken. Karo claims that the two girls were first-graders in Ukraine and Kunis stole Karo's chicken, which caused her severe emotional distress. Twenty-five years later, Karo and Kunis both live in the L.A. area which isn't cool in Karo's eyes.
She says that having Kunis around brings back old memories that require her to get therapy. She's seeking the money to pay for that therapy because she really misses that stolen chicken. Kunis and her husband, Ashton Kutcher, just laugh at the lawsuit and honestly, so did we.
Kim K Vs Phone Light
It seems that Kim Kardashian has the golden touch when it comes to product endorsements, which is bad news for the product's competition. Well, SnapLight phone cases, which make a selfie-lighted phone case similar to a product Kim already used called LuMee, felt that her endorsement was hindering their sales.
They filed patent infringement arguing that "it has been extremely difficult for Snaplight to compete in the selfie case market." They were asking Kim for $100 million dollars and to stop promoting LuMee cases. The case never made it to trial.
P Diddy Vs 9/11 Conspiracy
This is one of the most insanely bizarre court cases of all time. In 2011, Valerie Turks claimed that the rapper had fathered a child with her 24 years prior, and she was seeking back payments and child support. She also claimed that he had stolen a casino chip from her that was worth "over a zillion dollars," and that's a direct quote.
Turks asked for a mere $900 billion dollars in child support and $100 billion in lost income. She also casually accused Puff of masterminding the 9/11 terrorist attacks with the help of his ex-girlfriend Kim Porter. The things I would do to see this court case televised.
Lindsay Vs Fictional Baby
In 2010, Lindsay Lohan came out firing with a lawsuit against E-Trade Bank. Seems innocent and Lindsay-like if you ask me, but this is where the story turns into a head-scratcher. The bank ran an ad that showed a baby named Lindsay who was a "milkoholic."
Lohan sued the company for $100 million for the pain and suffering caused by what she felt was obviously a shameless dig at her. The was settled out of court, which makes me think that E-Trade Bank paid up some amount which is ridiculous because there are a lot of milkoholics out there, not just Lindsay.
Michael Jordan Vs Himself (?)
Imagine looking identical to Michael Jordan and thinking it's a bad thing? Well, that's what Portland resident Allen Heckard thought. He was sick and tired of being an unrelated twin to the Hall of Famer so what did he do? He sued the basketball star for causing him emotional pain and suffering, defamation and personal injury.
Yes, we're as confused as you are. We can only assume that Heckard attempted to do one of Jordan's dunks and failed miserably, causing both emotional stress and physical pain. The case was filed for $832 million dollars but was thrown out as soon as it landed in front of a judge, obviously.
Charlie Sheen Vs Fictional Character
Sometimes, the line between fact and fiction is very blurred. In this case, for Ursula Auburn, that line was blurred too much for her liking when she watched an episode of Two and a Half Men. She claimed that a character resembled her a little too much. Said character, Rose, was a loopy stalker who Auburn claimed had her voice, wardrobe, and mannerisms.
She also claimed that certain plot points reflected the real-life interactions that she had with Charlie Sheen. Auburn sued Sheen because she said she was never asked for permission to model a character off of her. There must've been some merit to the claims because they ended up settling out of court.
Liz Taylor Vs Gardener
In 2003, Willem Van Muyden, who was the gardener of Liz Taylor at the time, filed a lawsuit for unfair dismissal and emotional distress. The gardener claimed that the actress would use her butler at the time to relieve her sexual desires by any means possible.
Van Muyden claimed that the butler was gay and one day came out to the garden and asked him to "get him started." The butler made an advance on Van Muyden but the gardener declined. He said that his contract was terminated shortly thereafter, which was a direct tie to him refusing the advance.
Kim, Beyonce, Mariah Vs Their Children
A woman named Tina Seals has filed a lawsuit against not one, but all three of these ladies alleging some bizarre things. She says that she is the real mother to all three of their biological children. If you're confused, you're certainly not alone. She claims that she was romantically involved with all of their men — I guess was their surrogates too?
In her suit specifically towards Kim, she was looking for "stipulation and negotiable money judgment OR a record deal for her 22-year-old son with Kanye West. She also claimed that Michael Jackson's daughter Paris is hers as well. The judge threw out the case.
Simon Cowell Vs Shoes
It's no surprise that a mega-celebrity like Simon Cowell has a private chef. He's a busy guy and busy guys don't have time to put the chicken in the oven. During an interview with one of these private chefs, an unnamed applicant removed her shoes before entering Cowell's house. Those shoes had $500 orthopedic inner soles, so it was a little bit problematic when they were gone when she came back.
Despite repeated attempts to get her shoes back she couldn't seem to get them. She filed a small claims lawsuit for $66.59 to cover the shoes, insoles, and the nine dollars in gas money she used to get to his house. Miraculously, the shoes showed up after the claim was made.
Miley Cyrus Vs Asian Pacific Islanders
Miley Cyrus took a photo with friends in 2009, and one person wasn't very happy about it. Lucie Kim filed a four billion dollar lawsuit saying it violated the civil rights of Asian Pacific Islanders because Cyrus was making slanted eyes in the picture.
Cyrus claimed she was making a goofy face and that's it, but Kim said that each of the Asian Pacific Islanders in the L.A. area (about one million of them) deserves four thousand dollars each from the harm they suffered by looking at the picture. The case was dismissed.
Ralph Lauren Vs Polo
Polo is the name of a sport, a magazine dedicated to the sport, and a high-end clothing line. The three had peacefully co-existed until 1997, when the magazine decided to focus more on the elite, polo-playing lifestyle and less on the equestrian sport. Worried that Polo was hijacking the same type of image projected by his clothing, Ralph Lauren sued Polo's Texas-based publisher, claiming that the magazine had no right to use the word Polo.
In 1999 a Dallas court ruled in favor of the clothing designer and the magazine was shut down temporarily. They came back in 2001 after an appeal but had to state that they weren't affiliated with Polo Ralph Lauren.
Nicolas Cage Vs Kathleen Turner
Nicolas Cage won a libel case against fellow actress Kathleen Turner. The case concerned a passage in Turner's autobiography which she describes working with Nicolas Cage on the film, Peggy Sue Got Married. Turner said that Cage was a bit of a wild card during shooting.
She said he was arrested twice for drunk driving and, I think, for stealing a dog. She said he came across a Chihuahua he liked and stuck it in his jacket. After Cage won the case, Turner apologized and had to pay Cage's legal fees and make a donation to the charity of his choosing.
Tara Reid Vs A Hotel
A few months after getting completely embarrassed when she unknowingly flashed her breast on the red carpet at Diddy's 35th birthday, Sky Las Vegas Condominiums salted her wounds by starting a new ad campaign that told Tara Reid to "let it all hang out" at their residences.
The American Pie actress and former Playboy party girl didn't like that too much and sued the owners of Sky. She said that they suggested her wardrobe was "sexually lewd or immoral" and suggested that the wardrobe malfunction was intentional. Kind of a weird ask for someone with her reputation, but the case was settled outside of court.
Elvis Vs Creepy Lunatic
In the late 80s, a Texas record producer and promoter sued Elvis Presley's Estate, claiming that it had interfered with the promotion of his book entitled Memphis Mystery (Requiem for Elvis). He claims that Elvis's Estate's pesky claims that he had died in 1977 were getting in the way of him selling his book, which relied on the fact that he wasn't dead.
Smith claimed to have talked to Presley on the phone all of the time and that he could provide recordings of Presley's voice that prove he's still alive. Shockingly, Smith lost the case but did continue to publish the book, Elvis Lives, which wasn't a huge success.
Carrie Vs Implants
If you ever thought that an answer to a beauty pageant question could be so controversial, well... take a look at this. After sticking to her religious guns and opposing gay marriage, Miss USA runner-up Carrie Prejean caught a lot of heat. She became an anti-gay marriage mouthpiece after the show.
She was fired by the Miss USA pageant for skimpy pictures in lingerie that the organization said was a breach of her contract. Prejean sued for religious discrimination, claiming that it wasn't the pictures but her stance on marriage that did it. The organization countersued for $5,200 that had been given to Prejean for breast implants.
50 Cent Vs Taco Bell
50 Cent's name does not come for free. In 2008, he slapped Taco Bell with a lawsuit when they jokingly sent out letters to news outlets claiming that he should change his name to "79 Cent" or "99 Cent" to promote their new low-cost menu. He sued them for $4 million asking for damages of using his name without his permission.
He found out about the letters getting sent when people started calling him a sell-out for endorsing Taco Bell. Honestly, though, I don't see the issue with a Taco Bell endorsement. I mean, if that means free tacos for the rest of my life, I'm all in.
Jay-Z Vs Mr. White
Jay-Z was hit with a lawsuit for his 2010 book, Decoded. Patrick White claims that portions of the book were somehow stolen from him. He said that Jay compromised his personal computer resulting in material ending up in Decoded. In a handwritten lawsuit, White says he was shocked that certain expressions, colors, and phrases were similar.
White sued for copyright infringement and invasion of property. Interestingly enough, this must've been the first book that White read as he was dismayed that other people used the phrase "first of all," and "With that being said," in their work too. Just kidding about that, but kind of not.
