Moore v. Regents of University of California
Supreme Court of California (1991)

This really sucks:

Moore goes to UCLA medical center to seek treatment for hairy-call leukemia, and the doctors tell him that he needs to have his spleen removed or he will die. Moore agrees, and they remove his spleen. What the doctors don't tell Moore is that his cells are unique and worth a LOT of money.

So, Moore undergoes seven years of follow-up procedures and testing, giving additional tissue samples, believing that all this is important to his treatment. UCLA ends up isolating a cell line from Moore's cells, patents the cell line, receives hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding. The cell line has a projected worth in the billions of dollars.

Of course Moore sues. The case goes all the way to the Supreme Court of California. And guess what? They ruled that Moore could not sue for conversion of property. He could not reap any benefits from the cell line that UCLA had profited from. But he could sue for breach of fiduciary duty...but that is hard to prove and it still doesn't mean he gets any of the profits.

Sometimes, the cases I study are so unfair.