Six Times When Lawyering Up Was Definitely The Right Call

Saying "my dad/mom's a lawyer" is basically a meme at this point, but sometimes going to court pays off. Spoiler alert: this is super relevant if you were a smoker in the 90s.

1. Faulty Breast Implants

Sleep, Eat, Gym, Repeat / Via wordpress.com

So it turns out that breast implants used to be really unsafe. In the 90s, thousands of women got sick because their breast implants leaked silicone into their bodies. But they took the manufacturers to court and ended up winning $3.4 billion.

2. The BP Oil Spill

Office of Response and Restoration / Via blog.response.restoration.noaa.gov

Meet Fred. He's a sea turtle that got covered by some of the 4.9 million barrels of oil that spilled out of a BP oil rig after it exploded. Fred here lawyered up, and BP had to pay $20 billion. It's not all good news though; BP was able to use most of the fine as a tax write-off.

3. Fraud by WorldCom

The Balance / Via thebalance.com

Crime never pays. Well, it can pay a lot, until it doesn't. WorldCom CEO Bernie Eggars found that out the hard way after committing securities fraud. He went to jail, and his company went bankrupt after having to pay $6.2 billion to the people who bought its stocks.

4. Tobacco Companies Claiming Cigarettes Are Safe

LA Times / Via latimes.com

TIL that I have something in common with tobacco companies: we both love to procrastinate. Even though they knew as early as 1953 that cigarettes caused cancer, tobacco companies did literally everything they could to avoid admitting it. Deny til you die isn't the worst strategy, but they ended up having to pay $206 billion in 1998. As much as I love vaping, something similar will probably end up happening to JUUL.

5. Volkswagen Facetuning Their Emissions Reports

Harper's Bazaar / Via harpersbazaar.com

We've all done it. You take a cute pic, but you've got a few pimples. So you edit them out. Then, maybe you add a little more contour to your cheeks and make your lips a little fuller and before you know it, you look like a lost Kardashian sister. Volkswagen basically did the same thing but with their emissions report. The people weren't having it, and Volkswagen had to pay $14.7 billion.

6. Fen-Phen's Dangerous Diet Pills

Pinterest / Via pinterest.com

Before there was flat tummy tea, people were pushing diet pills. They didn't work either, but using Fen-Phen's pills led to heart problems. So thousands of people got together and filed a class action lawsuit, which ended with them winning a pay out of $3.75 billion.