There's a recent instance of a fellow suing the Bank of America for $1784

billion trillion dollars because he alleges he received bad advice from a

BOA employee and thus some of his cheques were dishonoured:

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE58O4SC20090925

This is greater than the World Bank's estimate of the world's gross

domestic product in 2008 ($60 trillion).

The judge indicated he was going to dismiss the claim unless the claimant

showed his grounds for claiming that amount. I'm betting it was tossed out

in the end.

Katy Barnett

> I would add to Ken's sources also Mark Galanter's piece  "An Oil Strike in

> Hell: Contemporary Legends about the Civil Justice System"  (1998) 40

> Arizona L.R. 717.

>

> best wishes

>

> Tsachi

>

>

> Dr. Tsachi Keren-Paz

> School of Law

> Keele University

> Staffordshire ST5 5BG

> England

> Office: CBC 2.015

> Phone: 01782 734358

> Email: t.kerenpaz@law.keele.ac.uk

> http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/la/staff/tkerenpaz.htm

>  Book "Torts, Egalitarianism and Distributive Justice"

> https://www.ashgate.com/shopping/title.asp?key1=&key2=&orig=results&isbn=0%207546%204653%20X

>   ----- Original Message -----

>   From: Ken Oliphant

>   To: Jones, Michael ; obligations@uwo.ca

>   Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2009 4:56 PM

>   Subject: RE: Stella Awards

>

>

>   [Warning: self-publicity!]

>

>   The story of "Winnebago man"  - and the national newspapers which

> reported it as fact in the UK(!) - is told on p. 37 of Lunney &

> Oliphant, Tort Law: Text & Materials (3rd edn. 2008), leading into a

> discussion of the "myth-representation" in the popular re-telling of the

> McDonald's coffee case.

>

>   The myth (widely reported as fact) that hanging baskets in St Albans

> were removed by the council because of liability / health and safety

> fears is exposed by Kevin Williams [2006] JPIL 347 and Paul Almond

> (2009) 36 Journal of Law and Society 352.

>

>   I highly recommend Haltom and McCann's Distorting the Law (2004), which

> exposes how "tort reformers" in the US deliberately manufacture, and

> saturate the media with popular narratives ("pop torts") that advance

> their cause.

>

>   Annette Morris's "Spiralling or Stabilising" (2007) 70 MLR 349 also

> contains excellent analysis of this issue.

>

>   Best wishes from Vienna!

>   Ken

>

>   Institute for European Tort Law

>   Reichsratsstrasse 17/2, A-1010 Vienna, Austria

>   Tel. (+43-1) 4277-29 662, Fax (+43-1) 4277-29 670

>   http://www.etl.oeaw.ac.at

>

>

>

>

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>   From: Jones, Michael [mailto:M.A.Jones@liverpool.ac.uk]

>   Sent: 29 October 2009 17:09

>   To: obligations@uwo.ca

>   Subject: Stella Awards

>

>

>   Thanks to everyone who responded to my query about the Stella Awards

> pointing out that they are a hoax.

>

>   I should have Googled first before emailing the list.

>

>   Although it's not a surprise, there was just a tiny little bit of me

> sort of "wishing" that at least one or two were true ...

>

>

>   Michael

>

>   --------------------------------------

>   Michael A. Jones

>   Professor of Common Law

>   Liverpool Law School

>   University of Liverpool

>   Liverpool

>   L69 3BX

>

>   Phone: (0)151 794 2821

>   Fax:     (0)151 794 2829

>   --------------------------------------

>