The AFU and Urban Legend Archive
Sex
 cable car named desire




Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban,misc.legal
From: ctf2m@kelvin.seas.Virginia.EDU (Chris Fishel)
Subject: Re: REQUEST: Dumb Lawsuits
Date: Fri, 13 Jan 1995 17:09:45 GMT

hatunen@netcom.com (Dave Hauten) writes: > In article <1995Jan11.173011.6122@midway.uchicago.edu>,
> Ted Frank <thf2@midway.uchicago.edu> wrote:
>>
>> [Tale of woman becoming a nymphomaniac following a cable car accident
>>deleted]
> >
> >Cite, please.
>
> Damn. Wonder if I can find it. This one really did happen. I remember
> when it was going on. But I think there might have been a settlement.
> But it wasn't from going around a corner, it was one of our frequent
> cable car accidents that they don't like to talk about very much.
>
From "18 Unusual Lawsuits" in The Book of Lists #3 (OK, so The Book of Lists ain't the most voracious of sources. This does, however, provide the month&year of the event and the name of the plantiff, which should be enough for anyone with the time and inclination to track down an original account):

A CABLE CAR NAMED DESIRE

The case of Gloria Sykes caused a sensation in San Fransisco throughout the month of April, 1970. A devout Lutheran from Dearborn Heights, MI, the 23-year-old Sykes had been in San Fransisco only two weeks when, in Spetember, 1964, she was involved in a cable car accident. The Hyde Street cable car lost its grip and plunged backwards, throwing Sykes against a pole. She suffered two black eyes and several bruises, but worst of all, claimed her lawyer, she was transformed into a nymphomaniac. Although she had had sex back in Michigan, she became insatiable after the accident and once engaged in intercourse 50 times in five days. THis inconvenience caused her to sue the Municipal Railway for $500,000 for physical and emotional injuries. The jury of eight women and four men was basically sympAthetic and awarded Sykes a judgement for $50,000.

Chris "Blatantly violating copyrights" Fishel


Any proceeds (net proceeds from merchandise sales) from TAFKAC solely benefit The Chuck Reed Fund.

Copyright Information

http://tafkac.org/