Coffee shop named in 2 undecillion lawsuit

We have heard about numerous frivolous lawsuits over the years but it appears that Anton Purisima, 62, has decided to gazump them all with this claim.

As part of a multifaceted attempt to gain a ridiculous amount of compensation, Purisima has filed against LaGuardia Airport and the café Au Bon Pain over the painful price he has been continuously charged for his coffee.

You may wonder how much the Manhattan man is seeking. $20? $200? $2,000?

Try the ‘measly’ sum of $2 undecillion.

For those wondering – and for those who want to waste an entire afternoon writing down the number – an undecillion is a number with thirty-six zeroes following it.

The figure appears thus: $2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

It appears that what prompted this demand is that Mr. Purisima feels aggrieved that he has, in his opinion, been routinely overcharged for a coffee.

What’s more over the top, the lawsuit or Au Bon Pain’s prices?

The people behind xkcd calculated that ‘if Au Bon Pain conquers the planet and puts everyone to work for them from now until the stars die, they wouldn’t make a dent in the bill.’

Au Bon Pain best not lose, but at least they’ll have some company in fighting off the case.

The City of New York, the New York Transit Authority and Hoboken University Medical Center – amongst others – are also named in the brilliantly preposterous 22-page complaint against everybody and everything.

Aside from his grievance over the price of a regular mug of coffee, Purisima also states that his middle finger was bitten by a dog on New York public transport and subsequently became infected. He has also pressed charges against the dog owner who is simply named as ‘Latina Dog Owner’ – we presume this non-descript description was included to preserve individual anonymity…..

To make matters worse a ‘Chinese couple’ took pictures of him whilst undergoing treatment, without his permission. They are also set to face charges.

Other reasons as to why he included other defendants can’t quite be determined. Neither can the tangent that links Au Bon Pain to the case.

The suit claims that the damages suffered cannot be measured in money, hence the wildly extravagant figure.

Imagine if he won.

He could buy a lot of coffee with $2 undecillion.

The most famous compensation claim that concerned coffee was the infamous ‘hot coffee’ case where an elderly American woman suffered 3^rd degree burns after spilling a cup of McDonald’s coffee on her lap. The fast-food chain admitted responsibility – the beverage was served far above normal serving temperatures – and was forced to pay $3m in damages, though that figure was reduced on appeal.

Twenty years on that case has been blown out of the water.