In an attempt to make the court system more transparent, and to prevent government officials from meddling in judicial matters, China recently enacted a set of laws making it more difficult for lawsuits to get dismissed. According to the Associated Press, the new system “requires courts to accept legitimate lawsuits when they are filed or clearly state the reasons for rejecting them, and citizens have the right to appeal the decisions.” While this is a good thing, it has also led to an uptick in lawsuits getting filed, and some of those lawsuits could safely be cross-filed under F for frivolous and H for hilarious.
Point being: A man is suing Chinese actress Zhao Wei because her intense, on-screen stare frightened him.
Reports say the lawsuit filed by a Shanghai man involves the prime-time TV show “Tiger Mom” which debuted in May and centers on a couple’s differing approach to raising their daughter. Zhao plays the big-eyed mother who relentlessly pushes her daughter’s development, while the father wants his child to have more freedom.
The Legal Daily said the plaintiff was alleging Zhao’s stare caused him “spiritual damage.”
Is this silly? Yes, this is very silly. And it will almost definitely get bounced out of the system in short order. But on the off chance this guy manages to win this case, and it ends up setting an international legal precedent, well, I vote we start the paperwork on a class-action lawsuit against the naked stop-motion clown from the American Horror Story: Freak Show opening credits. That sucker caused A LOT of spiritual damage.
(Via AP)
