Litigation gone mad

London might be the litigation capital of the world these days, but America isn't far behind. Straight out of the texbook Lawsuits For Fun comes this particular gem: Sharon Anderson from Georgia is suing the mayor of her home town, Fort Oglethorpe, for laying a concrete cricket pitch in the middle of a polo field.

She claims that she the city isn't abiding by a 1996 charter which states that the grounds “shall be preserved in its present condition for the use and benefit of the general public and no further construction or obstruction of any sort is allowed in the said circle". Ron Goulart, the city's manager, defended the cricket pitch and clearly finds the issue supremely dull. “It simply helps the people who use the field for recreation,” he said. “You really couldn’t find it unless it was pointed out to you.”

Holding the lawsuit, an inch thick, he said: "This is being stubbornly litigious." Still, she might have a point: concrete pitches are bowlers' graveyards.