I laughed along with the podcast crew at this story, but I also think some benefit may come from explaining why the judge did not dismiss what seems to be such a stupid lawsuit.
Although I did not look at the pleadings, it sounds from the Orlando Sentinel article that the motion to dismiss was based on the complaint (the document that initiates a lawsuit) failing to state a claim for which relief may be granted. What that means is that even though the plaintiff may have been injured in some manner by the defendant, the law does not allow for an recovery (an award) based on that injury.
Judges don't just go into these hearings and decide whether they think it's a valid claim or not. The standard for such a motion is that the judge must deny the motion unless he or she can say beyond a reasonable doubt that the plaintiff could not prove any facts in support of the claim. Further, at this stage of the proceedings, the judge cannot look at evidence outside the pleadings. For example, the judge could not consider an affidavit from the trainer that supposedly talked the plaintiff into buying the plush.
If it sounds like a difficult standard to get cases dismissed at this stage, that's because it is. The law gives plaintiffs the benefit of the doubt so they will have a chance to develop their case. It is slightly easier to get a case dismissed (or a summary judgment, but we'll just call that a dismissal) at a later stage.
Although I did not look at the pleadings, it sounds from the Orlando Sentinel article that the motion to dismiss was based on the complaint (the document that initiates a lawsuit) failing to state a claim for which relief may be granted. What that means is that even though the plaintiff may have been injured in some manner by the defendant, the law does not allow for an recovery (an award) based on that injury.
Judges don't just go into these hearings and decide whether they think it's a valid claim or not. The standard for such a motion is that the judge must deny the motion unless he or she can say beyond a reasonable doubt that the plaintiff could not prove any facts in support of the claim. Further, at this stage of the proceedings, the judge cannot look at evidence outside the pleadings. For example, the judge could not consider an affidavit from the trainer that supposedly talked the plaintiff into buying the plush.
If it sounds like a difficult standard to get cases dismissed at this stage, that's because it is. The law gives plaintiffs the benefit of the doubt so they will have a chance to develop their case. It is slightly easier to get a case dismissed (or a summary judgment, but we'll just call that a dismissal) at a later stage.
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they came with the instructions "Do not eat the battery door". That immediately made me wonder what knuckle dragging mouthbreather instigated the lawsuit to precipitate that specific instruction being included. Given a moment or two, I started to wonder how tasty the rest of the pager would be, and if anybody had tried to eat the batteries themselves, unless they had terrible GERD, or if that warning was on the battery packages themselves. 
