Court denies request of plaintiffs in right of publicity suit to exhume the body of Aunt Jemima

The great-grandsons of Anna S. Harringon, whose image formed the basis for Aunt Jemima, sued Quaker Oats Company and others for $2 billion claiming that defendants failed to pay royalties to Harrington’s estate after her death in 1955. One of the allegations in the case is that defendants played a role in Harrington’s death. Apparently, in an effort to support those allegations, plaintiffs sought an order from the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (where the matter is pending) allowing them to exhume the body of their great-grandmother for evidence of this malfeasance.

The court denied the request. Apart from it being just a bizarre ask, it turns out the “evidence” upon which the defendants’ role in Aunt Jemima’s death was based on a parody article from Uncyclopedia. In denying the motion, the court found the following:

The motion is primarily based on statements purportedly made by Quaker Oats executives about the death of the woman who had been identified as “Aunt Jemima.” But the source of the information is an uncyclopedia.wikia.com article, which is a parody website of Wikipedia. Uncyclopedia proudly bills itself as “an encyclopedia full of misinformation and utter lies.” See uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Uncyclopedia:About.

The court also threatened the pro se plaintiffs: “Plaintiffs must take greater care in their submissions to the Court, or else face sanctions and, if litigation abuse continues, outright dismissal of the case.”

Hunter et al. v. PepsiCo Inc. et al., No. 1:14-cv-06011 (N.D. Ill. October 21, 2014)

BTW: Some info about Anna Harrington’s grave.

Evan Brown is an attorney in Chicago advising clients on matters dealing with technology, the internet and new media.

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