32 of the Most Shocking Cases Lawyers Have Worked On

The existence of strange laws and even stranger criminals means any good lawyer is going to be kept on their toes. That’s certainly something Reddit’s legal professionals can attest to. One law clerk remembers the case of the “little kid fight club,” where moms put their kids in a circle and made them fight “gladiator style,” while filming it. Meanwhile, a lawyer remembers a short-lived case in which a client insisted on suing an employee who failed to show up to work, only to find out the employee no-showed because he died

And those aren’t even the most shocking cases lawyers brought to the court of Reddit. There are quite a few stories here that will send a chill down your spine — especially the one about a sociopath’s various pacts with other hospital patients.

32

Familiar-Ad3183 Зу ago A large pre-arranged funeral business was defrauding its customers. Selling pre-paid funerals and essentially altering sales documents so those funds were not placed in certain accounts as prescribed by law and/or making it difficult for decedent's family to discover that a funeral was already pre-paid. Mostly boring financial fraud stuff, but it was a very long running (and extraordinarily profitable) scam and very difficult to discover because the victim (dead person) was always dead before the crime could be discovered. 95 Share ...

31

tylerb011 Зу ago Not really f*cked up, but amusing: my dad won a case against Baskin Robins 30 years ago, because his client chipped her tooth on a pistachio shell while eating pistachio ice cream. No warning label. I don't remember the settlement amount, but it was hefty. 183 Share ...

30

tintedpink E Зу ago Case told to me by another lawyer on one of my cases: two guys decided to give a marijuana laced brownie to their co-worker without telling him it marijuana in it... right before he started his shift... as a crane operator. It went predictably badly, resulted in an accident and even their union agreed the guys should be fired. 1.2K Share ...

29

[deleted] 0 3y ago The plaintiff pulled the drawers out of a dresser and climbed up them to look for hemorrhoids in the mirror. Dresser fell on them and they sued the manufacturer. 434 Share ...

28

AHOY nicbus07 Зу ago Represented a painter getting sued on a construction defect job. The painter was hired to paint building 2 and 3. Не showed up for work, performed the work, and on his way home got into a terrible car accident leaving him paralyzed from the neck down. Не was sued several years later for water intrusion defects related to buildings 7-9 (Which he didn't work on). Felt terrible for the guy. 1.1K Share ...

27

alejandrosalamandro 3y ago Client insisted on suing an employee who failed to show up to work which caused a contract to be cancelled. The employee didn't show up to work because he died. 7.8K Share ...

26

expressiii Зу ago A sociopath in a psych ward making suicide pacts with vulnerable people and never following through. Charged with murder, determined he was too out of his mind to be accountable. Gonna be in an asylum for the next two decades unless something major changes within the case 2.1K Share ...

25

sun_kisser 3y ago My uncle lawyer helped a relative with a traffic ticket. Relative was conspiracy nut and wanted to take it to court to reveal the lies. Uncle just paid the fine and told her she won. 3.9K Share ...

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BeardedFury24 3y ago My first trial case was about a 26 year old who was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia, but after spending two weeks in jail they rushed her to the hospital where she died. Turns out she had a heart valve infection and told them about it day one, but they wrote her off as a druggie and that she was just faking her symptoms. She had two kids. And we lost the case because the defense made the entire case about her drug use and argued that she did it to herself. 1K Share ...

23

AmbitiousSquirrel4 Зу ago I used to work as a legal secretary for a personal injury lawyer. Не told me about a case where his client had radiation burns from an x-ray machine. In the avalanche of documents he received from the defendant during discovery, he found an internal memo. The memo described a serious problem with the machines and continued: This is an issue we can't ignore... unfortunately, it's not in the budget. When the case went to trial, he told the jury, Show them they need to put this in the budget next time. The jury complied, handing down

22

Mankers 10y ago I had to litigate for this stripper, who sprained her ankle at a party. She was seeking compensation for her medical bills as well as punitive damages. It sounded ridiculous at first, but if you saw this dudes house you would of been like, oh man. The fucker waxed every thing in his house so that the strippers reflection would be all over the place. The moment she stepped into his abode, she sprained her ankles (both). She was wearing heels. 524 Share ...

21

Tokra_Kree Зу ago I was clerking at the time. Little kid fight club. Bunch of mom's put their kids in a circle and made them fight each other gladiator style. Real dark stuff. Video included two 10yo girls beating the crap out of each other. Bets were taken but not on all fights. Some were just for entertainment. No fathers involved. 6.9K Share ...

20

lostatsea12a Зу ago Did an alleged Arson case for an insurance company once. The insured had to provide a list of all items he had lost including over 1000 book titles. Every book was the biography of a serial killer, we figured it was probably every book ever written about a serial killer. Insured gave off serious dark and mysterious vibes Who knows the truth 588 Share ...

19

Alleline 3y ago Edited Зу ago A mother sold the family farm out from under the son who was supposed to inherit it. Someone shot her (nonfatally). There were so many suspects that almost every lawyer in the county was assigned to defend one of them. Forensics eventually narrowed it down to two suspects, but each so adamantly pointed at the other as the shooter that it was going to be hard to convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt of either one's guilt. They both pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and served two years. Love Kills

18

holsmurf 3y ago My friend was a defense attorney and worked on a cannibalism case. The guy was found guilty of the charge. Upon looking into the case, my friend saw that the defendant had two brothers. Turns out, one brother was ALSO arrested on charges of cannibalism in a different state. The other brother was an accountant, he paid for the attorney fees and wanted absolutely no communication regarding the situation. I wonder how that third brother is doing. 93 Share ...

17

TRACstyles 5y ago Clerked a DUI trial where the accused presented the red-headed irishman stereotype defense. Dude crashed his car wasted at like noon on a Sunday a mile from his house. Not guilty. Не testified saying he went home after he hit a rock to look for his dog that had jumped out of the car. Не was upset about the crash, so he had a shot and a beer before returning to the scene. Не was found guilty of evading responsibility for hitting a mailbox and received a $150 fine. 17 Share ...

16

bees_21 5y ago Lawyer in the hospitality industry. My firm had a case where Plaintiffs sued our client because they (Plaintiffs) claimed they brought their baby into our client's pool, another baby shat in the pool, and their baby got salmonella as a result (there was no evidence that the other baby even had salmonella). Their baby ended up being fine with no lasting health effects and we won on summary judgment. Share 50 ...

15

Monkey-Tamer 5y ago I was a prosecutor at the time. A parent found messages on their teen's phone indicating a boy had given another boy a blowjob at a Boy Scout campout in exchange for a Fortnite game pack, a popular video game with kids. It gets worse. Two other boys watched. Interviews were done. The boy that received had been bragging about it at school. After meeting with parents none of them wanted us to prosecute. The kid that gave the blowjob had parents with a business in the community. 136 Share ...

14

tinyahjumma 5y ago Craziest cases are those sovereign citizen people who refuse to acknowledge the authority of the trial court. The create this word salad about the constitution, maritime law, corporate entities, etc. Another time a woman wanted to charge her ex-boyfriend for stealing her cat. Her evidence: the cat was missing for two days. When she returned, she smelled like cigarette smoke. Ex is a smoker, ergo, he stole the cat. 196 Share ...

13

I_cant_explained . 5y ago Not a lawyer but my uncle is. Не had one case where a lady let her dogs lose in a bed bath and beyond to attack a lady who was suing her. Then at the trial brought a giant stuffed dog with her for no reason 53 Share ...

12

wwdbd 5y ago I prosecuted a horse murder. The charges were for dogs let run at large causing damage. This guy's two pit bulls got out and attacked a neighbor's horse. They tore the poor thing's face to shreds. The horse belonged to a little boy who had saved up his allowance and raised and sold chickens to pay for part of the horse. The chargers were misdemeanors and the law didn't require the owner to know the dogs were dangerous to hold him criminally liable. I had to write a brief on strict liability for misdemeanors and ended up

11

Fervently_Apathetic e 5y ago . Edited 5y ago Not a lawyer, but my uncle is. There was a house with four lesbians living in it. 1 & 2 and 3 & 4 are couples. 1 & 3 start cheating on 2 & 4 together. So while 1 & 3 are in the bedroom together, 2 & 4 get in a car (I think it really was a Subaru) and drive it into the bedroom. No one was hurt. I think my uncle represented the homeowner's insurance company. 231 Share ...

10

swayzaur 5y ago I'm a family law attorney, and I once had to defend a client in a domestic violence restraining order case in which his ex-wife claimed that she was legitimately fearful for her safety because my client engaged in bestiality, and liked to have sex with livestock. Every aspect of the case was a complete shitshow that I would not have believed had I not been involved in the case. 92 Share ...

9

Fenzito 5y ago Not a lawyer, but work at a law firm. There's a case where a crazy lady's neighbor was allowed to have chickens in their yard. So she bought pigs, and the HOA or city stepped in and made her get rid of them. It was a suburban area. In retaliation, this lady buys 5,000 chickens from Tyson and unleashed them into her half acre backyard. The chickens all die, obviously. She sued the trucking company that brought the chickens for defective chickens and negligent infliction of emotional distress because her daughter had to view the gore of

8

Torero17 5y ago Defective vape rig exploded in a guys pocket and burned his penis off of his body. The settlement was very large. Discovery and reviewing medical records was extremely graphic and disheartening. I cannot imagine the anguish this man went through. Living without a penis from age thirty onwards would be an absolute nightmare. 1.2K Share ...

7

Freeiheit 5y ago I just worked on an amazing case recently. A woman and her fuck buddy decided to try anal in some crazy sex position where he was apparently holding her arms behind her back. Не falls on top of her and hurts her shoulder, she got a rotor cuff tear. She sued him and I represent his insurance company so we stepped in. TIL homeowners insurance will cover accidents from anal. I wonder if you have to request that coverage specifically 198 Share ...

6

HoustonTexan 3y ago An apartment complex was trying to kick out all of their disabled tenants by making up violations of their leases so they could upgrade the apartments and rent them to others. 58 Share ...

5

SubpoenaSender 3y ago Filing charges against a John Doe because client was arrested for a crime her did not commit and spent a year and $40,000 defending himself in a prior criminal case. Man ended up proving, in court that the man he was filing against stole his identity to commit crimes. Man also brought the investigator of the original case as a witness, solely to force him to lie on the stand. Nothing happened to the investigator other than him embarrassing himself. Man won and sued for 3x the damages. 220 Share ...

4

Shabbah8 4y ago Spent several hours zealously arguing that my client was severely disabled and couldn't work due to a back injury. It was so bad that the poor dude couldn't even sit in a chair throughout the entire proceedings. Rest my case. Opposing counsel calls in a DEC representative who proceeds to produce record after record of my client's deer hunting activities. Не sat in a tree, in freezing weather, for many hours, shot and killed multiple deer, and transported their carcasses out of the woods all on his own. SMH 9.5K Share ...

3

[deleted] 4y ago My client was badly hurt in a car accident and promised me he was never hurt in one before. Не was actually hurt in 44 prior accidents, all of which he filed claims for, which is how I found out when the mediator showed me the defense's ISO report. The fuckin look on my clients face Imao 10K Share ...

2

monstera_deliciosa 4y ago My favorite: the plaintiff on the other side (so no attorney-client privilege issues here) was in court telling the judge that each of my clients, on separate occasions, raped and impregnated her without her consent. This was already highly improbable because one of my clients was biologically female and couldn't have impregnated her. Then, in court, in front of the judge, this plaintiff abruptly mentions that she's never met my clients. Easiest win I ever got. 8.5K Share ...

1

saurabhtyagi7 8 5y ago It was my first case. A divorce case. The couple had a 15 year old boy and to everyone's suprise none of the parties involved wanted to have the custody of the child. 6 Share ...