h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

So, on this other message board, someone posted a link to a story that's just too unbeliavable that it could only happen in the USA.

This guy is suing Michael Jordan and Nike for a combined $832 million because the guy thinks he looks like Michael Jordan and people come up to him and ask for his autograph. Well, he's fed up with that and has to find someone to blame for his unwanted celebritydom (?) so he's suing Jordan for looking like him, and he's suing Nike for promoting Jordan, thus making him a house hold name around the globe.

So far, I've found two links to the story..

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/5766288

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/19/opinion/garver/main1817811.shtml

Maybe I should sue the World and European Triple Jump Champion for using the same name as me. After all, I'm 5 years older then him, so I had my name first, and when I introduce myself to people, they often go "Oh, right, like the triple jumper!", and it's causing me emotional distress as I don't look like him at all.

I think in cases like this, it's all too easy to assume the claimant is really stupid, genuinly feels wronged and has a blame mentallity.

Whereas, i think these lawsuits are usually brought by very smart and motivated people who see a legal loophole they can exploit to make a fortune.

The courts would be clogged up with these cases if everyone was this devious, as all it really takes for me to make a few thousand pounds is for me to knock over a bottle of bleach in a supermarket, go round an isle or 2, then return and 'slip' on the spillage. Some very efficient supermarkets would mop up the beach within seconds, but it really wouldn't take me too long to find somewhere, especially at quiet times, where a spillage could be left unnoticed for a few minutes- long enough for me to claim negligence of the supermarket for not clearing it up.