Patricia Ludwig claimed for years that Daniel Ludwig, a shipping magnate and one of America’s richest men, was her father. She was born to Gladys Madeline Ludwig, Ludwig’s first wife, but he did not acknowledge her as his child. When he died in 1992, Patricia sued the estate for a share of his fortune by claiming that she was his daughter, but she met with a shocking turn of events that foiled all her plans.
Daniel Ludwig, anticipating that Patricia would seek part of his fortune when he died, froze his blood samples in the 1970s for any genetic testing that might be required. When Patricia sued his estate after his death, the blood samples were used to test the DNA, and it was proven that he wasn’t her father. The case was ultimately dismissed. (source)
10 A woman sued Keanu Reeves, claiming that he fathered her four children.
Karen Sala filed a lawsuit against Keanu Reeves and alleged that he was the father of her four adult children. Sala claimed that they had a sexual relationship and that they used to live together. She even alleged that he was present at three of her children’s births. By suing him, she was seeking $3 million and $150,000 a month for spousal support and retroactive child support, respectively. Her children were between the ages of 21 and 25 during the lawsuit.
Though the DNA test declared that Reeves was not the father of Sala’s children, she questioned the validity of the test and suggested tampering or Reeves’ hypnosis, which could have affected the results. She refused to have her ex-husband’s DNA tested and did not produce the children’s birth certificate. The judge dismissed the case, stating that it was a waste of judicial resources. (source)
11 Waitress wins a $10-million lottery from a tip and gets sued.
Edward Seward was a regular customer at Grand Bay Waffle House in Alabama. He often bought lottery tickets for his friends, families, and the employees of the Waffle House during his visits. On one such visit, after having his meal, he tipped the waitress, Tonda Lynn Dickerson, who served him. This was rather a common thing in the restaurant, as he often tips the servers with lottery tickets.
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Tonda Dickerson, a divorcee in her late 20s, was the recipient of a lottery ticket on Sunday, March 7, 1999, that changed her life forever. She received the winning ticket worth $10 million dollars. Her colleagues were ecstatic for both her and themselves as they believed they would receive a share of her winnings. But they soon found out that that would not be the case and decided to sue her. They alleged that there had been an agreement to split the winnings. Mr. Seward also sued her alleging that he was promised a pickup truck if anyone won. The only issue was that both of these incidents, even if they were true, were oral agreements which were not enforceable by Alabama law as this was considered gambling and Dickerson won the case.
But since she placed her winnings in a corporation and presented her family 51% of her share, she was liable for a gift tax of $1 million to the US Tax court. (source)
12 A deaf man sued Pornhub for not providing closed captions.
A deaf man sued Pornhub.
Yaroslav Suris, a deaf man from Brooklyn, New York, was at a disadvantage when he tried to watch videos on Pornhub which involved some interesting conversations. He claimed that he couldn’t fully enjoy the videos on Pornhub or its sister sites because of the lack of closed captioning in them. Claiming that the site had violated his and other people’s rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act, he filed a class-action lawsuit against Pornhub and its sister sites.
While the vice president of Pornhub has disputed the claim by stating that the site has a closed-captions category, the lawsuit specifically cited videos like “Hot Step Aunt Babysits Disobedient Nephew – Sofi Ryan – Family Therapy,” “Sexy Cop Gets Witness To Talk,” etc., as those that were lacking closed captions. Suris was seeking damages and civil penalties against the sites for violating his federal rights. (source)
