Woman Sued Hooters After She Won Contest For New Car And Was Given Toy Yoda Instead

Credit: X / @historyinmemes

An employee at Hooters lost her temper when she didn't receive the reward she was expecting after winning a work competition.

Jodee Berry was employed by the restaurant chain Hooters during a period when the company held an employee competition.

A Toyota was awarded as the competition's grand prize to the person who sold the most beer on April 1, 2001, the day of the contest.

Everything sounds great, with one exception.

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The competition was held on April 1, which is also known as April Fool's Day, as the sharp-eyed among you may have already noticed.

Gulf Coast Wings, Inc., the corporate owner of Hooters, at least told Jodee that when she won the competition, and did very well in beer sales.

The entire competition turned out to be an April Fool's joke, Jodee was informed when she arrived to pick up her prize.

Rather than receiving a car, Jodee was given a doll of Yoda, the Jedi master from Star Wars. Do you get it? 'Toy Yoda' rather than a Toyota.

She was enraged.

Furthermore, in contrast to Yoda's remarks in The Phantom Menace, this rage resulted in a civil case against Gulf Coast Wings Inc. rather than hate.

Jodee filed a lawsuit against Gulf Coast Wings Inc. alleging deceptive and breach of contract.

However, was the court going to consider her lawsuit legitimate or just another April Fools' joke?

As it happened, the court upheld Jodee's complaint, and she was entitled to sue for damages related to the prank.

In the end, Jodee received damages, which undoubtedly made the pranksters' smiles disappear.

The precise sum of money she received was not made public, but her lawyer David Noll stated that it was sufficient for her to be able to "pick out whatever type of Toyota she wants" when she walks into a dealership.

By the end, they definitely got more than they had bargained for, even if restaurant manager Jared Blair claimed the entire situation had been an April Fool's joke.

It might have even been less expensive to have started with the car as the reward.

People shared their varied opinions about the incident on social media.

One posted: "See, it's FUNNY; but you still have to give her the car after so it's not mean."

Another wrote: "The joke is actually pretty funny, but honestly how else did they expect that one to go over?"

A third replied: "Serves them well. Good on her for not giving a hoot about those jokers and taking them to court. Well done."