So remember a while back when Sharon Stone basically said that China deserved to be struck by a massive earthquake? In case you have forgotten, here is what the blond beauty said:

“I’m not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans because I don’t think anyone should be unkind to anyone else. And then all this earthquake and all this stuff happened, and I thought is that karma — when you’re not nice that the bad things happen to you?” The comment was made back in May at the Cannes Film Festival. The earthquake had casualties in the 700,000 range.

Yes, it was a stupid, insensitive thing to say. Stone has basically been apologizing for it every chance she gets and will most likely die being remembered for the leg crossing scene in Basic Instinct and that comment. China has basically banned the viewing of any Sharon Stone movie and she was dropped fro the Chinese campaign of Christian Dior. You would think that this would be punishment enough, right?

Apparently New York lawyer Ming Hai doesn’t think so. He thinks that Stone should have to pay more for her off handed comment, so he has decided to gather a group of more than 1,000 earthquake survivors and sue the actress. She has been served with papers in regards to the lawsuit, where Hai is asking for a whopping one billion dollars stating that her comments have harmed China and the earthquake survivors. “For the families who have lost their loved ones or lost limbs or suffered severe injuries, your statement and act has caused extreme emotional distress.”

Okay, I can see his point. But one billion dollars? Seems kind of extreme, don’t you think? Some might call the lawsuit karma, but I call it a publicity stunt.