Courtroom Fun With Oscar Impostors, Baby Murloc, Scorched Seats, And A Miffed Meteorologist
Time for another post on what the American legal system is justifiably famous for: bizarre lawsuits.
Every month, Inside Counsel Magazine sends me short summaries of four such suits. I sketch out a cartoon for each one, and the editors pick the one they like best.
This month’s winner involved veteran California meteorologist Kyle Hunter, who is suing CBS for age and gender discrimination. Hunter claims he was passed over for jobs at two different Los Angeles stations in favor of attractive and much younger women who lacked Hunter’s credentials and experience. Hunter contends the women hires are a ploy to induce more men to watch the newscasts. CBS calls the complaint frivolous.
I had a vision of dark clouds of rage morphing into thunderclouds, with inclement results. Here’s the final.
BTW: it contains a glaring physical error which occurs three times. Can you spot it? Answer at end of post.
Among the other contenders: Hollywood’s Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences sued an events rental company for copyright infringement. Why? The Academy claims the company rents 8-foot-tall statues that are “strikingly” similar to its famous Oscar. The company says it has modified its original statue, and that the new version is modeled after a weightlifter.
I decided to “rent” some of the statues myself and stick them in the cartoon:
I’d heard of Baby Ruth (candy bar), Baby Face Nelson (1930s American gangster), and babydoll (pajamas), but never Baby Murloc. That’s because I’ve never played the online role-playing game World of Warcraft, created by Blizzard Entertainment.
Amanda Lewis, a former “game master” for Blizzard, is suing the company for copyright infringement and misappropriation of her voice. She claims she developed the voice and an original song for baby murlocs, which are cute aquatic humanoid creatures that appear in the game. The complaint alleges that “game master” is a customer service position, that providing creative content is not part of the job description, and that Ms. Lewis’s voice and song have been incorporated into the game without her permission.
I envisioned a courtroom filled with Warcraft characters, and yes, that is a baby murloc singing in the witness box.
A Eugene, Oregon couple has sued General Motors for injuries caused by seat warmers in GM’s Chevrolet Silverado. The suit says that the man, a paraplegic, lacked the sensation to know that his right buttock was being burned by the electric heater in the truck’s driver seat.
This case is a good example of the challenge posed by certain suits: drawing something funny that does not mock the less fortunate. I solved the problem here by making everyone but the lawyer a crash test dummy.
And here’s the original rough sketch for the miffed meteorologist.
So what’s the error in the finished cartoon?
Scroll back up and you’ll see that three of the jurors are holding umbrellas with no shafts. Perhaps they’re novelty umbrellas that are attached to the jurors’ heads… : )
What do you think? Have you ever been involved in a big money lawsuit? Ever bounced a baby murloc on your knee?? Hope you’ll leave a comment.
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