Frivolous Lawsuit of the Day

This is so stupid and wrong I don't even know what to say. Without seeing the actual text of the lawsuit it's tough to comment on the (lack of) logic here, but I gotta say I'm baffled that any lawyer would take this case.

Here's the text of the article for those who don't want to click the link:

MILWAUKEE - Just days after a Washington D.C. judge lost his job following the loss of a $54 million lawsuit over a pair of missing pants, a Milwaukee business is being sued in what legal observers describe as an equally frivolous case.

A Florida man, Olester Duncan, has named a handful of breweries including Milwaukee’s Lakefront Brewery seeking damages after he got knocked in the head with a can of Schlitz Malt Liquor.

Duncan claims he was reaching for a four-pack of the brew at an Albertson’s grocery store in Ocala, Florida, when one can came loose and hit him in the skull.

Although Lakefront Brewery is named as a defendant, there is no explanation in court documents why Mr. Duncan believes Lakefront is responsible.

“I don’t know what his injuries were,” said Lakefront’s attorney, Don Demet. “But maybe he got hit in the head and there were injuries to his thought process or something.”

TODAY’S TMJ4 placed numerous calls to Mr. Duncan’s attorney, Dennis L. Finch, but none of those calls was returned.

The president of Lakefront Brewery, Russ Klisch, said he was dumbfounded when the summons arrived.

“It just doesn’t seem possible that somebody could be hit on the head with a can of beer in Florida, and it wasn’t even your beer, and you could be sued,” Klisch exclaimed.

Though some legal observers are chuckling about the seemingly frivolous lawsuit, Duncan’s wife, Maria, is not laughing. The lawsuit claims she’s suffered “the loss of the value of her husband’s services, society, companionship and consortium by reason of his injuries.”

Klisch has liability insurance for his business and has turned the matter over to his insurance company’s legal team, but he remains frustrated by the inconvenience the matter is causing him.

“It cost me a lot of time so far,” Klisch said with a sigh. “I’ve had to talk to different lawyers, talk to our insurance company. When you are served with a summons it is a serious thing.”

Huh. I'll see if I can track down more information, but for now I don't know what to say...

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UPDATE Tuesday 12.04.07: I found a pdf of the lawsuit. Strangely, it lists Lakefront (and several other defendants) as a responsible party at the top of the brief, but doesn't give any further information as to why they are liable. Frivolous as it may be, I can understand why they would choose to sue Albertson's (location of the incident), Schlitz/Miller (the producer[s]), and CONE (the local distributor), but what the heck does Lakefront have to do with any of this?