Luxury car maker Mercedes loses a case in German court brought by an overweight man who says his heft caused multiple breakdowns in the car. The court ruled that Mercedes must release the insurance salesman from a car lease deal after a dispute over whether he was too heavy to drive the luxury vehicle, Bild newspaper reports Tuesday.

Linda Marks is a Florida psychic who has recently gained notoriety, not for her success as a psychic, but for her lengthy rap sheet. Marks was previously sued by over a dozen former clients who say she stiffed them out of over $1 million when they visited her Delray Beach business. She and her husband, James, pleaded guilty in December 2002 to reporting their car stolen to defraud their insurance company. They were placed on five years' probation.

A high school chemistry teacher is charged with insurance fraud and arson, after giving two failing students passing grades if they agreed to steal and burn her car so she could collect insurance money. Aldine Senior High School's Tramesha Lashon Fox was $20,000 behind on car payments.

A restaurant owner whose business was trampled by escaped elephants last month has reopened and revamped the eatery with a new name, "Restaurant where Elephants Have Been. " Restaurant owner Keum Taek-hoon said Monday she used the $18,000 insurance money she collected to remodel the restaurant, which now displays a sign featuring three elephants.

A 20-year old violinist is breathing much easier now that the 18th century violin she lost has been returned. Lindsay Deutsch says the instrument was stolen from her car last weekend while she was grocery shopping. Deutsch says, "I've been waiting my whole life to get an instrument of this quality, and for it to be gone like this, I didn't think I'd ever get this one back. " It was found Thursday in an alley by a man who was walking his dog. He took it police who kept to dust for fingerprints. The violin, made in 1742, was on loan from collector Peter Mandell, who says his insurance covered almost every possible contingency -- except theft from a vehicle. The instrument is one of only 30 still in existence that was handcrafted in Venice, Italy by the top violin maker of his time, Sanctus Seraphin. Though a fine violin, it is considered to be several notches below those made by Antonio Stradivari. Deutsch says, had the violin not been recovered, she was ready to work off the debt to pay Mandell for the instrument Her parents offered a $10,000 reward. If an investigation confirms his story, her father says he will give the money to the finder.