Bah Humbug! Grinch-like Holiday Lawsuits That Are Anything but Merry

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We all have Christmastime traditions: trimming the tree, exchanging gifts, filing lawsuits.

Well, OK — while we don’t ALL file holiday lawsuits, new ones do pop up each year.

Top Class Actions has compiled a list of some of the craziest holiday lawsuits ever! Read on to find out about lawsuits involving Charles Dickens, a 3.2-million-light holiday display — and even what not to do at the company Christmas party.

‘Stop Acting Like the Grinch’

Former Maricopa County, Arizona, sheriff Joe Arpaio has been accused of a lot of things — such as housing inmates in tents in the desert and forcing them to work in chain gangs, The Washington Times reported. But his use of Christmas music landed him in court six — yes, six — times.

County inmates filed six separate lawsuits attempting to compel Arpaio to stop playing Christmas music for 12 hours per day at the prison, the Washington Times reported. 

They failed each time.

“Inmates should stop acting like the Grinch who stole Christmas and give up wasting the court’s time with such frivolous assertions,” the sheriff’s department said in a reportedly red-and-green statement after winning the sixth lawsuit. “But chances are they’ll keep suing and we’ll keep winning.”

Our Best to Bob Cratchit

Sometimes people aren’t allowed to simply enjoy their success.

The publication and warm reception of Charles Dickens’ 1843 classic “A Christmas Carol” was quickly followed by legal action.

The book’s success led to the publication of several plagiarized versions, one of which showed up on book shop shelves in January 1844, according to the Brooklyn Law School Library blog.

The book, called “A Christmas Ghost Story. Re-Originated from the Original by Charles Dickens, Esq., and Analytically Condensed Expressly for This Work,” prompted a lawsuit from Dickens’ solicitor, who asked for an injunction stopping the copycat work’s publication.

The judge ruled in Dickens’ favor. 

Dickens filed five additional plagiarism lawsuits involving “A Christmas Carol” over the next four months. 

In each case, the defendants declared bankruptcy, meaning Dickens didn’t collect so much as court costs, with the litigation ultimately decreasing the profits he earned off his own work.

Straight to HR

A former Trader Joe’s employee sued the company when he was fired after complaining about a gift he received during a 2014 Christmas party.

Paul D. Roberts filed a complaint in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging he was wrongfully terminated because he griped about receiving an item that resembled a male sex organ from a female employee during a gift exchange, according to West Side Today. The item reportedly grew in size when it was submerged in water.

The plaintiff filed an internal complaint. He pointed out that if he’d gifted a similar item to a female employee, he likely would’ve faced disciplinary action.

In January 2015, human resources told Roberts his complaint was under investigation, but he was then fired two days later, West Side Today reported.

The company later settled the case for an unknown amount.

Is That The Griswold Place?

If you were a multimillionaire who loved Christmas, what would you do?

You’d turn your mansion into a 3.2-million-light celebration of the season, right? Obviously.

But you might have some unhappy neighbors like Jennings Osborne had.

Osborne, who was said to resemble Santa Claus in some ways, according to a Washington Post report, had a display that began in 1986 and eventually grew to such intensity pilots said they could see it from 80 miles away.

In 1991, a transformer blew when Osborne turned on the display, causing outages in his neighborhood — and if you’re thinking that sounds familiar, it’s because it happened in 1989’s “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.”

The power company assigned Osborne his own transformer after that incident.

However, thanks to the amount of traffic Osborne’s house drew, his neighbors filed a lawsuit calling the home a public nuisance, according to The Washington Post.

Osborne lost that case and was forced to take down most of the display. He appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, but it refused to hear the case.

However, holiday cheer won out, just as it did in “Christmas Vacation,” Disney executives contacted Osborne about keeping the tradition alive, sending four semi-trucks — and a certain famous mouse — to pick up more than 2 million of Osborne’s lights. 

Ralphie’s Parents Warned Us

A family sued a toy company when their son lost vision in his right eye after being shot by an air pistol.

Nope, it wasn’t “A Christmas Story” — this case actually happened in Kentucky in December 2019, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.

The article cited a study that seemed to indicate the number of eye injuries caused by non-powder guns, such as the Daisy Air Pistol, is on the rise.

The company was also taken to court in 2001 by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which sued to have Powerline Airguns recalled, according to the Los Angeles Times. (They never were.)

Tax Not Included

It seemed like a good idea at the time: Jewelry store owner Alan Perry devised a promotion in which customers’ holiday purchases would be free — yes, free — if 3 inches of snow fell in Asheville, North Carolina, on Christmas Day 2010, according to JKC.

What could go wrong?

Well, 6 inches of snow fell, likely along with Perry’s profits — he refunded roughly $400,000 (though insurance covered most of that amount).

One customer wasn’t happy, though, and took Perry to small claims court after he was refunded only $7,052, rather than the $7,616 he paid; his sales tax was not refunded.

In March 2011, a judge dismissed the case, finding that tax revenue belongs to the state.

Family Wins the ‘War on Christmas’

In 2014, an Idaho family won a $75,000 lawsuit claiming they had faced religious discrimination from their homeowners association, the Daily Mail reported.

The family put on a festive display every year, complete with a live Nativity — camel and all — that attracted thousands of spectators and was a fundraiser for cancer patients.

The jury decided someone with the HOA who wrote a letter to the family before they moved in must be a Grinch. 

The letter pointed out non-Christians lived in the neighborhood, the writer adding they didn’t “even want to think of the problems that could bring up,” and telling the family they’d have to cancel their tradition if they wanted to move in.

What do you think of these bah humbug lawsuits? Have you heard of any others? Share with us in the comment section below!

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