Have Any Stories of Pranks with Legal Consequences?

Question of the Week

Have Any Stories of Pranks with Legal Consequences?

Posted Apr 3, 2008, 12:31 pm CDT
By Sarah Randag

April Fool’s Day put pranksters in the news this week—and lawyers were in on the action. One blogger spun a yarn about a U.S. Supreme Court fantasy baseball league.

Another had to pay for a Washington Post retraction after the newspaper ran a prank obituary ad he later regretted submitting. His friend featured in the ad forgave him. But some ill-conceived pranks run afoul of the law or inspire tort claims. That got us wondering …

What pranks do you know of—April Fool’s or otherwise—that had legal consequences for the pranksters? Tell us your stories—whether you were the prankster who did the deed, the the one who defended the pranksters, or the one who won a victory for the prank's victims.

Answer in the comments below.

Read last week's question and answers about "Cinderella of the courts" stories.

Our lone answer from last week:

Posted by Jerrold E. Fink: “Texaco/Pennzoil- On the facts and law, most experts/commentators believed Texaco had great defenses. Yet, at every stage, Texaco’s losses became worse. Glass slipper? As in basketball, there is something to be said about ‘home court advantage.’ And the fight over the forum can be far more decisive than the supposed agreed-to ‘governing law.’ “

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