Kids Sue Mom Over Toys, Cards, Party Dresses

It sounds like a joke, but sadly it’s not: Two grown Illinois children have spent the past two years suing their mother for “bad mothering” including, but not limited to, sending a birthday card her son didn’t like, not taking her daughter to a car show, failing to send college care packages, making her then-7-year-old wear his seatbelt, calling her daughter at midnight to ask her to come home after a homecoming celebration, failing to buy toys, and "haggling" over the price of a party dress. An Illinois appeals court finally dismissed the case last week, the Chicago Tribune reports.

It gets worse: The children, now 23 and 20 years old, were raised by their attorney father—who represented them in the case—in a $1.5 million home after their parents’ divorce in 1995. They wanted more than $50,000 for emotional distress, but the court found that none of their mother’s conduct was “extreme or outrageous.” Though the children’s father said in court papers that he tried to discourage the two from filing the lawsuit, their mother’s attorney says the lawsuit is actually the ex-husband’s attempt to “seek the ultimate revenge.” Click for the full story. (More lawsuit stories.)