The Stella Awards

[Mojo]

The Stella's are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled coffee on herself and successfully sued McDonalds. That case inspired the Stella awards for the most frivolous successful lawsuits in the United States.



The following are this year's candidates:



1.) Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas, was awarded $780,000 by a jury of her peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running inside a furniture store. The owners of the store were understandably surprised at the verdict, considering the misbehaving little toddler was Ms. Robertson's son.



2.) A 19-year-old Carl Truman of Los Angeles won $74,000 and medical expenses when his neighbour ran over his hand with a Honda Accord. Mr. Truman apparently didn't notice there was someone at the wheel of the car when he was trying to steal his neighbour's hub caps.



3.) Terrence Dickson of Bristol, Pennsylvania, was leaving a house he had just finished robbing by way of the garage. He was not able to get the garage door to go up since the automatic door opener was malfunctioning. He couldn't re-enter the house because the door connecting the house and garage locked when he pulled it shut. The family was on vacation, and Mr. Dickson found himself locked in the garage for eight days. He subsisted on a case of Pepsi he found, and a large bag of dry dog food. He sued the homeowner's insurance claiming the situation caused him undue mental anguish. The jury agreed to the tune of $500,000.



4.) Jerry Williams of Little Rock, Arkansas, was awarded $14,500 and medical expenses after being bitten on the buttocks by his next door neighbour's beagle. The beagle was on a chain in its owner's fenced yard. The award was less than sought because the jury felt the dog might have been just a little provoked at the time by Mr. Williams who was shooting it repeatedly with a pellet gun.



5.) A Philadelphia restaurant was ordered to pay Amber Carson of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, $113,500 after she slipped on a soft drink and broke her coccyx (tailbone). The beverage was on the floor because Ms.Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument.



6.) Kara Walton of Claymont, Delaware, successfully sued the owner of a night club in a neighbouring city when she fell from the bathroom window to the floor and knocked out her two front teeth. This occurred while Ms. Walton was trying to sneak through the window in the ladies room to avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge. She was awarded $12,000 and dental expenses.



7.) This year's favorite could easily be Mr. Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Mr. Grazinski purchased a brand new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On his first trip home, having driven onto the freeway, he set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the drivers seat to go into the back and make himself a cup of coffee. Not surprisingly, the R.V. Left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Mr. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not advising him in the owner's manual that he couldn't actually do this. The jury awarded him $1,750,000 plus a new motor home. The company actually changed their manuals on the basis of this suit, just in case there were any other complete morons buying their recreation vehicles."

[YeRFDoG]

Hi,
I'm a member who hasn't posted anything for something like a year, although i have been lurking for most of that time.

Anyway, I dont live in America (i'm an Aussie), and I cant really see how people can be successful in sueing in such cases as these. No offence intended to Americans, but howcome your judiciary system lets this sort of thing happen.
I remember a while ago how someone swimming at a beach in Perth, Western Australia broke his neck and became a paraplegic from diving into shallow water. He tried to sue the local council but failed.

[realbinky]

Well, 2 issues here:
1) This was posted less than a week ago
2) Due to that post, someone checked snopes or the like to determine these are, indeed, urban legends

[Cerek the Barbaric]

While our judicial system can allow some incredibly trivial lawsuits, it (thankfully) is not as bad as it would at first appear.

This same topic was covered just a few days ago on this board. I've also heard these examples cited on a morning radio show that I listen to. However, one of our members (VulcanRider) did a Search on Snopes.com and found out that ALL of the cases listed here are hoaxes - they never actually happened!

VulcanRider also did a Search of several news sites and found NO STORIES relating to the cases listed above.

[YeRFDoG]

Originally posted by Cerek the Barbaric: While our judicial system can allow some incredibly trivial lawsuits, it (thankfully) is not as bad as it would at first appear. This same topic was covered just a few days ago on this board. I've also heard these examples cited on a morning radio show that I listen to. However, one of our members (VulcanRider) did a Search on Snopes.com and found out that ALL of the cases listed here are hoaxes - they never actually happened! VulcanRider also did a Search of several news sites and found NO STORIES relating to the cases listed above.

Well that sure makes me feel better

[Dreamer128]

Well, I definatly heard that number2 story before.
Another old one was about a woman who killed her dog by putting him in the Microwave, then sued the company who made the thing, for not putting in their manual that you cannot dry living creatures in a microwave. She was awarded a fortune

[ 01-31-2003, 12:10 PM: Message edited by: Dreamer128 ]

[Timber Loftis]

None of these stood up to Snopes.com - as this thread quickly points out:
http://www.ironworksforum.com/ubb/cg...;f=10;t=013704

If you want to bash my profession, here's a REAL issue:
http://www.ironworksforum.com/ubb/cg...;f=10;t=013734

Frivolous lawsuits are more about Urban Myth than anything else. If you cite that damned McDonald's case I'll point out the Judge DRASTICALLY reduced the award - but that was p.18 news 'cause it didn't make good press.

[Mojo]

I apologise for not seeing the previous thread, or rather not paying attention. Still, I've learned something...