That Ridiculous Subway Footlong Lawsuit Is Still Going, Three Years Later

A certain doughnut chain would like you to believe America runs on Dunkin’, but in fact this great nation of ours runs on frivolous lawsuits. And in at least one instance, judges have had quite enough.

Three years ago, a guy in Australia kicked off a flurry of stupid lawsuits when he posted a picture of a ruler next to a "footlong" sandwich to Subway's Facebook page to show that said sandwich was an inch shy of its promised length.

The class-action suit was settled earlier this year, with Subway agreeing to pay all 10 plaintiffs a whopping $500 each along with more than half a million dollars in attorney’s fees, seemingly ending the 11-inch sandwich saga. But no, this massive waste of time and money continues to drag on — this time in pursuit of declaring it a massive waste of time and money.

As Consumerist reports, the case has now gone before a court of federal appeals: A previously uninvolved third party, an attorney by the name of Ted Frank, is challenging the settlement. He argues that, although the judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, the only people really benefitting from this lawsuit is the lawyers; Subway had already promised in mid-2013 to fix the length of its sandwiches, so it was pointless for the suit to go forward.

The three judges hearing the appeal thoroughly agreed, declaring the footlong lawsuit "frivolous," "a nuisance," and "opportunistic" — but whether or not they’ll throw out the settlement will remain to be seen. Stay tuned for more in this 11-inch saga, because they’re not slated to rule on the appeal until sometime early next year.

In other ridiculous litigation news: Starbucks has recently faced a slew of lawsuits from plaintiffs who claim the chain rips off customers by systematically underfilling its lattes and filling its iced drinks with uh, ice. What a world.

• Judges in Subway Appeal Ask Why Case Wasn’t Thrown Out Long Ago [Consumerist]
• Subway Will Make Sure That Footlong Sub Is Actually a Foot Long Following Lawsuit [E]
• All Lawsuit Coverage [E]