Perhaps America's most notorious personal injury suit was launched by Stella Liebeck, an 81-year-old former department store assistant from Albuquerque, New Mexico, who sued McDonald's in 1994 for serving its coffee too hot.

Liebeck's injuries were certainly genuine . . . she had thirddegree burns on her groin, thighs and buttocks where she spilled her coffee . . . but the punitive damages she was awarded, $2.7m, struck much of the country as excessive to the point of absurdity. Many McDonald's customers bought the coffee precisely because they liked it hot. The award was lowered to $480,000 on appeal.

The wife who. . . Got 'sales rage' and then sued for $600,000 In 2002, Carolyn Wells from Tennessee got into a fight with another customer during the afterChristmas sales at the JC Penney department store.

Her reaction was to sue the store for $600,000 claiming that JC Penney was responsible for the injuries she sustained during the scuffle. Her husband, Robert, also sued the store, claiming loss of her earnings, service and company. He also sued for loss of "consortium" . . . a delightful legal term for sex. The argument revolved around two crystal bear figurines.

The Tennessee court of appeals dismissed the case saying that retail stores could not be held responsible for the "cutthroat arena of afterChristmas bargain shopping".

The man who sued. . .'Jackass' for $10m In 2002, a man from Hot Springs, Montana, sued the media conglomerate Viacom for $10m claiming that its hit television show Jackass, subsequently turned into a movie, plagiarised his name and defamed his good character.

The plaintiff's legal name was, indeed, Jack Ass, a moniker he had acquired five years earlier in an effort, he said, to draw attention to the dangers of drunk driving.

("Be a smart ass, not a dumb ass" was one of his slogans. ) The man, who was born Bob Croft, acted as his own counsel. It's not clear whether the case ever made it to court.

The man who sued. . . A strip club for $100,000 In 1996, Bennie Casson of Belleville, Illinois, demanded $100,000 in compensation from a strip club after a dancer slammed her remarkably large breasts into his head causing what he described as a "bruised, contused, lacerated neck".

Susan Sykes, known by her stage name Busty Hart, boasted an 88-inch chest which supposedly caused him "emotional distress, mental anguish and indignity". The suit made Casson a laughing stock, and his case ground to a halt after one lawyer dropped out and he realised he could not afford another. Three years later, he shot himself in the head.

The woman who sued. . . Her employers for $2.7m A convenience store worker in West Virginia won $2.7m in punitive damages after she injured her back opening a pickle jar in 1997. Cheryl Vandevender claimed she had been mistreated by her employers over a long period and was forced to lift heavy objects even after it was clear it was causing her medical distress. But a state Supreme Court judge, Spike Maynard, called the award an "outrageous sum" and had it reduced by half a million.