Tattoo Typo Led to Lawsuit

Posted by Alex in Tattoo, Etc. on August 9, 2007 at 2:22 pm


Here’s a funny story about tattoos and typos:

How in the world could a man end up with a typographical error tattooed on his chest?

That was the question raised last week by a news story about a lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court by Michael Duplessis, a Northwest Side auto mechanic who said that in April 2005, tattoo artist Sam Hacker inked “Chi-tonw” on his chest where he had asked for “Chi-town.”

The suit accuses Hacker and Jade Dragon Tattoo & Body Piercing, where Hacker worked at the time, of negligence.

But four of Hacker’s professional colleagues rose to his defense Wednesday afternoon in a most fitting and unusual way: They got “Chi-tonw” tattoos of their own.

Their purpose was to show that the error-control safeguards at tattoo parlors render Duplessis’ accusation of negligence a “farce,” according to 31-year-old “Dras” (pictured; one name only), who went first.

Link - via reddit


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COMMENT

10 comments to "Tattoo Typo Led to Lawsuit"

  1. astrodex
    August 9th, 2007 at 3:44 pm

    Upon reading the link, I am amazed at the sheer amount of vitriol leveled at those who choose to get tattooed. I wonder how many of those narrow minded bigots have body modifications of their own. No one comes into this world with steel puncturing their earlobes and boys are generally born with foreskins. Few even question these modifications in our society.

    Tattoos have been around since the Neolithic era (at least). And I bet tattoo artists having been mistakes since then as well. Just like doctors, they are human beings. We all need to learn to be careful and informed consumers.

  2. Tian
    August 9th, 2007 at 4:08 pm

    If you think that is bad, check out Hanzi Smatter?

    http://www.hanzismatter.com/

  3. Stacyj
    August 9th, 2007 at 5:19 pm

    A tattoo artist IN Chicago that messes up “Chi-town”? Egads.

    You know, I lived in Chicago for a while and even though I’m not “into the tattoo scene” in any major way, even -I- had heard - from multiple people - to stay the heck away from Jade Dragon if I wanted any work done … guess there was reason for that after all!

    As for all the anti-tattoo sentiment … pfft, it’s kind of interesting how other people feel their opinion ought to matter when it comes to body mods done to a body -other- than their own … What ever happened to “to each their own”? Must be nice to be so free of problems of your own that you can spend energy fretting over someone else’s decorations …

  4. milovoo
    August 9th, 2007 at 5:31 pm

    So he has a Maori women’s tattoo, a tribute to silence of the lambs’ serial killer Jane Gumb and a misspelled slang name for Chicago. Classy.

  5. Cuimhne
    August 9th, 2007 at 6:25 pm

    Chi town? Does that mean something or is it as silly as it sounds?

  6. L
    August 9th, 2007 at 6:32 pm

    So… basically the guy is suing the tattoo parlour because he can’t read? If I was getting something permanently emblazoned on my body, I think I’d want to check for spelling errors first. And if I knew that I was bad at spelling, I’d bring along a friend who wasn’t.

  7. Vexorg
    August 9th, 2007 at 6:40 pm

    I recall seeing one of those TV court shows the local station runs about 50 of a day several years ago (I think it was Judge Joe Brown) that had a case involving a misspelled tattoo. It didn’t go particularly well for the defendant, I seem to recall.

  8. Tinderbox
    August 9th, 2007 at 9:49 pm

    That portrait isn’t of the customer, it’s the first of the colleagues who got the tat done in solidarity with the artist.

  9. Ty
    August 9th, 2007 at 11:18 pm

    How do you pronounce that Chi-town? In the word “Chicago”, ‘chi’ sounds like ’shi’, so is “Chi-town” like ’shitown’?

  10. Monster
    August 10th, 2007 at 10:26 am

    I’m on the customer’s side. If you actually read the article, Hacker admits that he’s the one that mixed up the letters, and the customer didn’t catch the mistake. The customer didn’t even realize until the next day that it was messed up, probably because it was hard for him to notice the mess-up by looking at it backwards (in a mirror). It probably took a friend making fun of his new tattoo for him to realize it.


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