Get ready to cast your vote! The polls are now open for the New Jersey Civil Justice Institute’s annual Most Ludicrous Lawsuit competition. A lot of ridiculous lawsuits were filed in New Jersey this year, but only one can be crowned 2017’s Most Ludicrous Lawsuit.

“Our state’s judges shouldn’t have to waste time dealing with lawsuits that don’t pass the laugh test. But they do. All the time,” said NJCJI president and chief counsel Alida Kass. “Many laughable lawsuits are filed because New Jersey law incentivizes them. When the law encourages a disregard for personal responsibility, or allows uninjured parties and their attorneys to collect a windfall, people are going to take advantage of it.”

“We cannot and should not shut the courthouse doors on such claims because we don’t want to prevent people with legitimate grievances from seeking justice, but we can discourage nefarious filers by making some common-sense reforms to our legal system and empowering our judges to make quick work of silly suits,” added Kass.

Cast your vote for 2017’s Most Ludicrous Lawsuit on the NJCJI website before the poll closes on December 28! Then sign up to get our newsletter, where we will announce the winner on December 29.

Not every ridiculous lawsuit filed in the Garden State can make it into the upper echelon of absurdity, so this year we are awarding Dishonorable Mentions to a handful of suits that didn’t quite make the cut, but still leave us scratching our heads in disbelief.

Subway Footlong Saga

The Subway footlong lawsuit, which was filed in 2013, came to its inglorious ending this year. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the “utterly worthless” settlement agreement, which would have given $5,000 to each of the 10 named plaintiffs and $520,000 to the lawyers involved.

“A class action that seeks only worthless benefits for the class and yields only fees for class counsel is no better than a racket and should be dismissed out of hand,” Circuit Judge Diane Sykes wrote for a three-judge panel. “That’s an apt description of this case.”

The lawyers at DeNittis Osefchen Prince P.C. in Evesham, who filed the first footlong lawsuit, are reportedly not happy with the court’s decision. In a Courier-Post article, attorney Stephen DeNittis disputes claims that the settlement was “a windfall for the attorneys at the expense of the class” He said, “Such was clearly not the case. There were 10 law firms involved in the 3 1/2-year-long action who devoted well over 2,000 hours in time in litigating the matter.”

Unfortunately for them, work put into a worthless project doesn’t turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse.

“Blame it on the a a a a a alcohol.”

It seems like every year there is a ridiculous case filed by someone who wants to blame their drunken mistakes on anyone but themselves. This year, a young Bergen County man sued Endicott College and its president under Massachusetts’s social host liability law. He blames them for not stopping him from getting drunk and assaulting three of his now-former classmates. He is seeking damages for the loss to his reputation and for pain and suffering.

The Litigious Lawmaker

As the old saying goes, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me may result in a lawsuit.” Well, that’s how one South Jersey politician thought it should go. Former Democratic Councilman Dennis Kleiner of Galloway filed suit against the municipality, the mayor, and another councilman after he resigned his position, claiming rumors and false charges forced him out of office. A Superior Court judge called his “hurt feelings” lawsuit “pointless,” and threw out the complaint, and this year the Appellate Division affirmed that decision.

Phoney Lawsuits

Jan Konopca has collected over $80,000 by filing Telephone Consumer Protection Act lawsuits against companies that call the many phones he keeps on hand. The law is designed to cut down on unwanted calls, but Konopca seems to relish these communications, which have become quite lucrative for him. His latest suit, which is pending before a federal judge New Jersey, recently survived a motion to dismiss despite the fact that the judge determined “it is most probable that [Konopca] manufactured the harm based on his motivation to be awarded monetary awards in the lawsuits.”

Bovine Boogeyman

A farmer in Warren county has sued the county fair on behalf of her livestock, who get spooked when hot air balloons fly over her farm. She claims complaints she made in previous years when unanswered, so she had to take the matter to court.

The actual nominees for 2017’s Most Ludicrous Lawsuit are even more ridiculous. Click here to check out this year’s nominees and cast your vote for which one should be crowned 2017’s Most Ludicrous Lawsuit.

A lot of ridiculous lawsuits were filed in New Jersey this year, but only one can be crowned 2017’s Most Ludicrous Lawsuit. Cast your vote now for this year’s “winner.”

This year’s nominees are:

Mousecapade

A woman in Hackensack filed a lawsuit against Home Depot after being assaulted by a mouse in one of its stores. She was hospitalized, and claims she “now grab[s] her neck because she feels there is something there, and she suffers nightmares that a mouse might be endangering her life.” And she “looks for mice on her plate when eating.’’

Unending Accutane Epic

Over 2,000 lawsuits alleging the acne medication Accutane causes intestinal issues have been pending in the New Jersey courts for years despite the fact that there is no scientific evidence supporting such claims. This year, the New Jersey Supreme Court used one of these cases to expand the amount of time out-of-state plaintiffs have to file suit. In another, the Appellate Division laid bare the deficiencies of New Jersey’s unique rules governing the admissibility of expert testimony. We may not be “the nation’s medicine chest” for long if these are the kinds of rulings we continue to see.

Drink Price Dilemma

For the past few years, scores of businesses have been sued under New Jersey’s Truth-in-Consumer Contract, Warranty, and Notice Act (TCCWNA). This year, a case alleging missing drink prices on menus is a TCCWNA violation made it all the way to the New Jersey Supreme Court. The attorneys involved claimed the suit was worth billions, yes billions, with a b. Thankfully, the Court disagreed, and put the brakes on the runaway train of TCCWNA litigation.

Fa-la-la-la-la la-la-la Lawsuit

A man in New Milford sued the owners of an apartment building after he tripped on a Christmas tree that was “recklessly, carelessly and/or negligently” discarded on its premises. He claims the experience has caused him “great pain and torment, both mental and physical.”

Check the Box Chicanery

The Appellate Division’s decision to throw out an otherwise valid arbitration agreement over the check-the-box process the company used to roll out its new policy highlights just how low the New Jersey courts are willing to stoop to strike a blow against arbitration. If other contracts were treated like this, we would have a contract-formation crisis on our hands.

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