Delaware Today magazine: Tales From the Court, strange, bizarre cases from Delaware courtrooms

Delaware has hosted some of the most scandalous and salacious legal cases in the country. From Tom Capano to a pedophilic pediatrician, the state has had more than its share of headline-stealing court battles. While those tales garner most of the ink, the First State has featured a variety of other interesting litigations. Funny, embarrassing, intriguing or just plain odd, the following are some of the most interesting cases to grace the dockets in the past few years.

by Bob Thurlow Published October 13, 2011 at 11:37 AM

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Trouble in the Ladies’ Room

When a state employee regained consciousness on the tile of a bathroom floor, she knew something was horribly wrong.

The last thing she remembered was stumbling toward the sink in hope of splashing water on her face to sate her fever, sweating and dizziness. Almost 90 minutes after entering the bathroom, the Appoquinimink School District custodian had to piece together what she could recall so she could establish the events of her July morning.

The emergency room diagnosis: heat exhaustion brought on by a hot and stuffy restroom. Smith filed a workers’ compensation suit against her employer, the state of Delaware.

Smith’s case looked strong on paper, but Wilmington-based neurologist Alan Fink shared a different diagnosis when the panel convened: defecation syncope.

It was an unfortunate situation for the employee, but the unusual evaluation of the case was enough to flush her argument down the toilet.