The Stella Awards

[HolyWarrior]

The Stella Awards

The "Stella" awards rank up there with the Darwin awards. Stella Liebeck is the 81 year old lady who spilled coffee on herself and sued McDonalds. This case inspired an annual award - The "Stella" Award - for the most frivolous lawsuit in the U.S. The following are this year's candidates:



1. January 2000:

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 bastard was Ms. Robertson's son.



2. June 1998:

A 19 year old Carl Truman of Los Angeles won $74,000 and medical expenses when his neighbor 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 neighbor's hubcaps.



3. October 1998:

A 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. 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 half a million dollars.



4. October 1999:

Jerry Williams of Little Rock, Arkansas was awarded $14,500 and medical expenses after being bitten on the buttocks by his next door neighbor's beagle. The beagle was on a chain in it's owner's fenced-in 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. May 2000:

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. The beverage was on the floor because Ms. Carson threw it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument.


And the winner is:



Mr. Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City.



In November 2000 Mr. Grazinski purchased a brand new 32 foot Winnebago motor home. On his first trip home, having joined 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 Winnie left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Mr. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not advising him in the handbook that he couldn't actually do this. He was awarded $1,750,000 plus a new Winnie. (Winnebago actually changed their handbooks on the basis of this court case, just in case there are any other complete morons buying their vehicles) You can't make this stuff up . . .

[True_Moose]

Oh my dear lord...that is absolutely terrifying. Why is it that companies are forced to protect people from their own idiocies? My dear god... [img]graemlins/idontagreeatall.gif[/img]

[HolyWarrior]

might try asking Timber...

[True_Moose]

I don't know why the juries keep finding in favor of these people, but I know why the verdicts are so much money. In the US, possibly elsewhere, but you don't hear about those, there is no cap on so called "pain and suffering." Basically, you have limits on how much you can sue for for everything except pain and suffering, since there is no strict limit on that. Ever wonder how you can end up with $600-billion tobacco lawsuits? That's how.

I'm a wannabe lawyer, can you tell. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[Chewbacca]

I would run these by Snopes. I know a few of them are as Urbane a legend as they get.
http://www.snopes.com

[ 08-11-2003, 10:27 PM: Message edited by: Chewbacca ]

[True_Moose]

Uh-oh. Looks like they are all (except for possibly Winnebago-boy) fake. Check out this page at Snopes.com. I know, you posted it first, Chewie, but I was amazed at how this was word-for-word. Just goes to show you gotta research on the internet.