Legal Facts

In West Virginia if you run over an animal, you can legally take it home and cook it for dinner!

It would take 76 work days (8 hours a day) for the average person to read the Terms and Conditions they agree to in a year.

Donald Miller Jr. of Ohio disappeared in 1986 and was declared legally dead in 1994. In 2005, he showed up very much alive and asked the court to reverse his death certificate. The judge denied it — Ohio's 3-year statute of limitations to reverse a death ruling had expired. The judge told him: "I don't know where that leaves you, but you're still dead as far as the law is concerned."

In 2000, the New York Mets owed Bobby Bonilla $5.9 million. Instead of paying, they deferred it: $1.19 million per year from 2011 to 2035. The owner planned to invest the savings with his friend Bernie Madoff. Madoff turned out to be running the largest Ponzi scheme in history. The Mets are now paying Bonilla $29.8 million for a career that ended in 1999.

Six robbers attacked a jewelry store in Northampton, England, with sledgehammers. Ann Timson, 71, had severe arthritis. She'd bandaged her legs that morning just to get to dance class. She charged all six swinging her handbag and knocked one off his motorbike. Five were caught and sentenced to 26 years combined. Six men brought sledgehammers. She brought a purse.

A woman in New York sold her house for $650,000 after spending years telling magazines it was haunted by poltergeists. She forgot to mention the ghosts to the buyer. He sued. A New York court ruled: "As a matter of law, the house is haunted." Law schools teach it as the Ghostbusters Ruling.

The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that New London, Connecticut, could seize Susette Kelo's home and give the land to a private developer. The city spent $78 million demolishing the neighborhood. Pfizer, the anchor company, left town. The developer couldn't get financing. 20 years later, the land is an empty lot.

Virginia inmate Robert Lee Brock sued himself for $5 million. His argument: getting drunk violated his own civil rights and caused him to commit crimes. Since he couldn't work in prison, he asked the state to pay on his behalf. The judge called his legal theory "innovative" then ruled it "totally ludicrous."

In 2009, Wells Fargo held both the first and second mortgage on a Florida condo. When it needed to foreclose, Florida law required it to sue all lien holders, including itself. So Wells Fargo hired one law firm to file the lawsuit against Wells Fargo, and a second law firm to defend Wells Fargo against Wells Fargo.

Jesse Dimmick broke into a Kansas couple's home while fleeing a homicide, held them at knifepoint, then fell asleep. They escaped. He was convicted of kidnapping. Then he sued them for $235,000, claiming they'd made an oral contract to hide him from police. The judge threw it out.

Red Bull settled a $13 million lawsuit after a customer argued it was no better than coffee. A can has 80mg of caffeine. A cup of coffee has 150mg. Red Bull offered $10 per person to anyone who bought one since 2002. So many people claimed it that the payout dropped to $4.25.