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According to one frequently cited tale, a body builder competing in a footrace with a refrigerator strapped to his back was injured when one of the straps came loose; he sued several defendants, including the strapmaker, and won $1 million. The facts, according to the lawyers' group: ten athletes competed in a televised stunt race, each with a 400-lb. refrigerator strapped to his back; each received a written contract guaranteeing that the equipment had been tested for safety. Franco Columbo, a world-champion body builder, did fall and suffered total knee displacement that required extensive surgery. At the trial, testimony showed that the equipment had never been tested on anyone of Columbo's size while running (he is 5 ft. 7 in., much smaller than anyone else in the race). In fact, the engineer for the fitness center that developed the contest said that he had warned the organizer, Trans World International, that the whole race was unsafe. Columbo did win slightly less than $1 million from Trans World, but the strapmaker was not sued because the strap never broke.
Another tale allegedly involves a fat man with a history of coronary disease who suffered a heart attack while trying to start a Sears lawn mower, sued Sears and the manufacturer, contending that too much force was required to pull the rope, and won $1,750,000. The real story, the trial lawyers point out, is that a 32-year-old doctor, who had no history of heart trouble, fell victim to a heart attack after futilely yanking the lawn mower's starter cord 15 times. A Philadelphia jury found that the mower's exhaust valve failed to meet the manufacturer's own specifications, hindering start-up to the extent that the rope indeed had to be pulled with excessive force. The jury did award $1,750,000, but the case was subsequently settled for an undisclosed amount.
Another oft-used example is of two Maryland men who supposedly put a hot-air balloon into a commercial laundry dryer. The machine exploded, injuring both men, who won $885,000 from the maker of the dryer. What actually happened is that the men took the balloon to a hospital that had laundry equipment designed for industrial purposes. The dryer vibrated violently and then exploded. Both men were injured; one required microsurgery to reattach his hand, which was almost severed. The dryer's maker had a patent on a device that would have stopped the dryer automatically if it began to vibrate excessively, but had declined to install the device on the dryer because of the cost. Oddly, in this case the actual award, $1,260,000, exceeded the figure usually quoted, but the lawyers point out that the common account of the case ignores the dryer manufacturer's failure to install the protective device.