World's Most Litigious Man Sues Guinness, Apparently for No Reason

The hyper-litigious Jonathan Lee Riches has sued Michael Vick, Barry Bonds, Martha Stewart, Somali pirates and just about everybody else. Now he's suing Guinness World Records for allegedly dubbing him "the world's most litigious man."

Please don't laugh just yet, because here's the funny part: A Guinness spokeswoman told me this morning that the company never had any intention to honor him with inclusion in their next book, and has not been tracking his dubious achievements.

"We certainly have never received any materials here in regards to this record," says Guinness spokeswoman Jamie Panas. "We aren't citing him in the upcoming book and can't find this record in our internal records database.

"I'll continue to research this for you," Panas tells me via email, "but as of right now I think this might have been a fabrication on his end."

Riches -- also known as "The Lawsuit Zeus" and "Johnny Sue-nami" -- is currently incarcerated in a prison hospital in Lexington, Ky., where he is serving time for federal wire fraud. He filed his suit against Guinness in the U.S. District Court in Washington, apparently because there are few judges will look at his cases after running them ragged for years.

The Spokesman-Review ran a very entertaining account of his case against Guinness, in which he objects to the company's alleged siting of him as "Sue-per-man," the "Patrick Ewing of Suing," and various other nicknames.

"I've filed so many lawsuits with my pen and right hand that I got arthritis in my fingers, numbness in my wrists, crooked fingers," he states in the hand-written document, according to the paper.

I can only hope that one day I, too, will be important enough to be sued by Riches. In the last year, he has attempted to sue Bernie Madoff and the makers of Grand Theft Auto. He complains that the video game maker has caused him harm by glamorizing sex, drugs and violence.

To call Riches suits "frivolous" might even be generous. He's attempted to take on Plato, Nostradamus, Al-Qaeda, and the Garden of Eden, among others. My own legal record is a little more scant, outside of a case involving a leaky refrigerator, the last person to threaten to sue me was Bozo the Clown.

Related:

• Our Litigious Times: Ridiculous Law Suits
• Inmate Sues Michael Vick
• An Embarrassment of Riches

Booking Photo
Join Me on Facebook | Get My Twitter Updates