Claim to Fame

A former barista sues Starbucks over who gets a cut of the tip box, and a San Diego judge orders the coffee giant to pay California baristas more than a hundred million dollars in back tips. Maggie walks Joel, who tips in exact change, through a four-inch plastic cube that came with its own instruction manual. Plus: the insurance company that sued its own insurance company, and why most employment practices policies won't touch a wage claim.

It's Fraud Friday and the day before Halloween, so Maggie brings Joel a true horror story: a woman at a San Jose Wendy's says she bit into something crunchy in her chili, and it was part of a human finger. Joel, who has sworn off chili, follows the hunt for the finger's owner, which somehow involves a pet leopard, an asphalt company, and a hundred-dollar deal. Plus: why a food scare can wreck a restaurant's sales without ever triggering its insurance.

An Australian teenager measures his Subway Footlong, gets eleven inches, and posts the photo. Within days, American lawyers are suing, and Joel, for once, is on the claimant's side. Maggie walks him through what the lawyers found when they looked at the dough, plus why a "your ad promised more" lawsuit can fall through the cracks of a restaurant's insurance.

It's the most famous "frivolous lawsuit" in America: a woman spills McDonald's coffee in her lap and sues. Maggie walks Joel through what really happened in Albuquerque in 1992, and Joel finds out almost everything he "knew" about the hot coffee case is wrong. Plus: why the punitive part of a verdict can be insured in one state and not in the next, and what seven hundred complaints mean to a jury.

A lawyer starts a new job as a judge in Washington, D.C., takes his suit pants to the neighborhood dry cleaner, and says they lost them. Then he reads the "Satisfaction Guaranteed" sign on the wall, does some math, and sues the immigrant family that owns the shop for $67 million, later trimmed to a mere $54 million. Plus: why your general liability policy may not cover a customer's coat, car, or jewelry while it's in your care, and what a room safe cost the Ritz-Carlton.

For almost ten years, Domino's promised your pizza in 30 minutes or less, or it was free (later, $3 off), and that promise helped make it the world's biggest pizza delivery company. Then a Domino's driver out on a delivery ran a red light and hit a St. Louis woman's car, and a jury had to decide whether the problem was one driver or the guarantee itself. Plus: why a restaurant's general liability policy won't cover a delivery crash, and the auto coverage every business with drivers should ask about.

A bond trader from New York City signs a contract on a riverfront Victorian in Nyack, New York, then learns the seller once told Reader's Digest the house was haunted. Joel and Maggie follow the ghosts, a bed that shook every school morning, and a $32,500 down payment into a New York appeals court that had to decide whether, legally speaking, the house is haunted. Plus: what property insurance does and doesn't cover when the problem is a building's reputation, and the New Jersey rule that actually mentions haunted houses.

Who really invented the Taco Bell Chihuahua? Two guys from Michigan say they pitched Taco Bell a cartoon called Psycho Chihuahua more than a year before the famous ads aired, and nobody ever signed a contract. Joel and Maggie follow the dog from a New York trade show to a Michigan jury, a fight with Taco Bell's own insurers, and a lawsuit against its ad agency, plus what every restaurant should know about advertising injury coverage.

We owe you some throwed rolls, and Joel and Maggie explain why Lambert's Cafe's flying-roll lawsuit isn't getting a verdict today. Instead: a man orders his usual boneless wings, ends up in the emergency room with a chicken bone in his throat, and takes one question all the way to the Supreme Court of Ohio: if the menu says boneless, should you expect bones? Plus: what every restaurant should know about menu promises, med pay, and the supply chain behind every plate.

A rainy night at a Kansas City Royals game, a lion mascot with a hot-dog-shaped air gun, and a behind-the-back toss that a longtime fan says hit him in the eye. Joel and Maggie follow the lawsuit through two juries and the Missouri Supreme Court, which had to decide whether getting beaned by a flying hot dog is just part of baseball. Plus: what every restaurant, bar, and hotel that puts on a show should know about liability coverage and med pay.