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Am recycling this as it made me snort out my coffee this morning:
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The Stella Awards !!!
It's time again for the annual "Stella Awards"! For those unfamiliar with these
awards, they are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled hot coffee
on herself and successfully sued the McDonald's in New Mexico where she
purchased the coffee. You remember, she took the lid off the coffee and put it
between her knees while she was driving. Who would ever think one could get
burned doing that, right?
That's right; these are awards for the most outlandish lawsuits and
verdicts in the U.S. You know, the kinds of cases that make you scratch
your head. So keep your head scratcher handy.
Here are the Stella's for the past year:
7TH PLACE:
Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas was awarded $80,000 by a jury of her peers
after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running inside a
furniture store. The store owners were understandably surprised by the verdict,
considering the running toddler was her own son.
6TH PLACE:
Carl Truman, 19, of Los Angeles, California won $74,000 plus medical expenses
when his neighbor ran over his hand with a Honda Accord. Truman apparently
didn't notice there was someone at the wheel of the car when he was trying to
steal his neighbor's hubcaps.
Go ahead, grab your head scratcher.
5TH PLACE:
Terrence Dickson, of Bristol, Pennsylvania, who was leaving a house he
had just burglarized by way of the garage. Unfortunately for Dickson, the
automatic garage door opener malfunctioned and he could not get the garage door
to open. Worse, he couldn't re-enter the house because the door connecting the
garage to the house locked when Dickson pulled it shut. Forced to sit for eight,
count 'em, EIGHT, days on a case of Pepsi and a large bag of dry dog food, he
sued the homeowner's insurance company claiming undue mental Anguish.
Amazingly, the jury said the insurance company mus t pay Dickson $500,000
for his anguish. We should all have this kind of anguish.
Keep scratching. There are more...
4TH PLACE: Jerry Williams, of Little Rock , Arkansas , garnered 4th Place in the
Stella's when he was awarded $14,500 plus medical expenses after being bitten on
the butt by his next door neighbor's Beagle - even though the Beagle was on a
chain in its owner's fenced yard. Williams did not get as much as he asked for
because the jury believed the Beagle might have been provoked at the time of the
butt bite because Williams had climbed over the fence into the yard and
repeatedly shot the dog with a pellet gun.
Grrrrr ... Scratch, scratch. (Beags note: Beagles bite ?)
3RD PLACE:
Amber Carson of Lancaster, Pennsylvania because a jury ordered a Philadelphia
restaurant to pay her $113,500 after she slipped on a spilled soft drink and
broke her tailbone. The reason the soft drink was on the floor: Ms. Carson had
thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earli er during an argument. What ever
happened to people being responsible for their own actions?
Scratch, scratch, scratch. Hang in there; there are only two more Stella¢s to
go...
2ND PLACE:
Kara Walton, of Claymont, Delaware sued the owner of a night club in a nearby
city because she fell from the bathroom window to the floor, knocking out her
two front teeth. Even though Ms. Walton was trying to sneak through the ladies
room window to avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge, the jury said the night club
had to pay her $12,000....oh, yeah, plus dental expenses.
Go figure.
1ST PLACE: (May I have a fanfare played on 50 kazoos please) This year's runaway
First Place Stella Award winner was Mrs. Merv Grazinski, of Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma, who purchased a new 32-foot Winnebago motor home.
On her first trip home, from an OU football game, having driven on to the
freeway, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the driver's seat
to go to the back of the Winnebago to make herself a sandwich. Not surprisingly,
the motor home left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Also not surprisingly,
Mrs. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not putting in the owner's manual that she
couldn't actually leave the driver's seat while the cruise control was set.
The Oklahoma jury awarded her, are you sitting down, $1,750,000 PLUS a new motor
home. Winnebago actually changed their manuals as a result of this suit, just
incase Mrs. Grazinski has any relatives who might also buy a motor home.
________________________________
The Stella Awards !!!
It's time again for the annual "Stella Awards"! For those unfamiliar with these
awards, they are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled hot coffee
on herself and successfully sued the McDonald's in New Mexico where she
purchased the coffee. You remember, she took the lid off the coffee and put it
between her knees while she was driving. Who would ever think one could get
burned doing that, right?
That's right; these are awards for the most outlandish lawsuits and
verdicts in the U.S. You know, the kinds of cases that make you scratch
your head. So keep your head scratcher handy.
Here are the Stella's for the past year:
7TH PLACE:
Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas was awarded $80,000 by a jury of her peers
after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running inside a
furniture store. The store owners were understandably surprised by the verdict,
considering the running toddler was her own son.
6TH PLACE:
Carl Truman, 19, of Los Angeles, California won $74,000 plus medical expenses
when his neighbor ran over his hand with a Honda Accord. Truman apparently
didn't notice there was someone at the wheel of the car when he was trying to
steal his neighbor's hubcaps.
Go ahead, grab your head scratcher.
5TH PLACE:
Terrence Dickson, of Bristol, Pennsylvania, who was leaving a house he
had just burglarized by way of the garage. Unfortunately for Dickson, the
automatic garage door opener malfunctioned and he could not get the garage door
to open. Worse, he couldn't re-enter the house because the door connecting the
garage to the house locked when Dickson pulled it shut. Forced to sit for eight,
count 'em, EIGHT, days on a case of Pepsi and a large bag of dry dog food, he
sued the homeowner's insurance company claiming undue mental Anguish.
Amazingly, the jury said the insurance company mus t pay Dickson $500,000
for his anguish. We should all have this kind of anguish.
Keep scratching. There are more...
4TH PLACE: Jerry Williams, of Little Rock , Arkansas , garnered 4th Place in the
Stella's when he was awarded $14,500 plus medical expenses after being bitten on
the butt by his next door neighbor's Beagle - even though the Beagle was on a
chain in its owner's fenced yard. Williams did not get as much as he asked for
because the jury believed the Beagle might have been provoked at the time of the
butt bite because Williams had climbed over the fence into the yard and
repeatedly shot the dog with a pellet gun.
Grrrrr ... Scratch, scratch. (Beags note: Beagles bite ?)
3RD PLACE:
Amber Carson of Lancaster, Pennsylvania because a jury ordered a Philadelphia
restaurant to pay her $113,500 after she slipped on a spilled soft drink and
broke her tailbone. The reason the soft drink was on the floor: Ms. Carson had
thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earli er during an argument. What ever
happened to people being responsible for their own actions?
Scratch, scratch, scratch. Hang in there; there are only two more Stella¢s to
go...
2ND PLACE:
Kara Walton, of Claymont, Delaware sued the owner of a night club in a nearby
city because she fell from the bathroom window to the floor, knocking out her
two front teeth. Even though Ms. Walton was trying to sneak through the ladies
room window to avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge, the jury said the night club
had to pay her $12,000....oh, yeah, plus dental expenses.
Go figure.
1ST PLACE: (May I have a fanfare played on 50 kazoos please) This year's runaway
First Place Stella Award winner was Mrs. Merv Grazinski, of Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma, who purchased a new 32-foot Winnebago motor home.
On her first trip home, from an OU football game, having driven on to the
freeway, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the driver's seat
to go to the back of the Winnebago to make herself a sandwich. Not surprisingly,
the motor home left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Also not surprisingly,
Mrs. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not putting in the owner's manual that she
couldn't actually leave the driver's seat while the cruise control was set.
The Oklahoma jury awarded her, are you sitting down, $1,750,000 PLUS a new motor
home. Winnebago actually changed their manuals as a result of this suit, just
incase Mrs. Grazinski has any relatives who might also buy a motor home.
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