The 10 Most Ridiculous Lawsuits of 2011

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We've all heard about crazy lawsuits and 2011 was no exception when it came to the filing of frivolous – even ridiculous – lawsuits.

A lawsuit by a kidnapper against his victims for not helping him evade police tops the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for Legal Reform’s (ILR) survey of the Top Ten Most Ridiculous Lawsuits of 2011, released today.

"While these lawsuits vary from the outrageous to the humorous, abusive litigation is hardly a laughing matter," said ILR President Lisa Rickard. "ILR's annual poll of ridiculous lawsuits helps to remind us that abusive lawsuits affect real people and real businesses, and can have harmful results to lives, jobs, and even our economic growth."

ILR announced the top ten vote-getters from among those chosen throughout the year by visitors to the FacesOfLawsuitAbuse.org website. The lawsuits were selected from those featured in the website's monthly polls for 2011. The Faces of Lawsuit Abuse campaign is ILR's public awareness effort created to highlight the impact of abusive lawsuits on small businesses, communities, and individuals.

The top ten Most Ridiculous Lawsuits of 2011 are:

•Convict sues couple he kidnapped for not helping him evade police

•Man illegally brings gun into bar, gets injured in a fight, then sues bar for not searching him for a weapon

•Young adults sue mother for sending cards without gifts and playing favorites

•Woman disagrees with store over 80-cent refund, sues for $5 million

•Mom files suit against exclusive preschool over child's college prospects

•Man suing for age discrimination says judge in his case is too old

•Obese man sues burger joint over tight squeeze in booths

•Woman sues over movie trailer; says not enough driving in "Drive"

•Passenger's lawsuit says cruise ship went too fast and swayed from side to side

•Mother sues Chuck E. Cheese – says games encourage gambling in children

Links to the full news stories from which these were drawn and the complete results of the poll can be found on the Faces of Lawsuit Abuse web site.

This story was provided by BusinessNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience.