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08-08-09, 12:45 PM
Buncha nutters...
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 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 Stellas for
the past year:
*SEVENTH
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.
Start
scratching!
* SIXTH 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.
Scratch some
more...
* FIFTH 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 and survive 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 must pay Dickson
$500,000 for his anguish. We should all have this kind of
anguish. Keep scratching. There are more....
Double
hand scratching after this
one..
*FOURTH
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.
Pick a new spot to scratch, you're getting a
bald spot..
* THIRD 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 earlier during an argument. What ever happened to people
being responsible for their own actions?
Only two
more so ease up on the
scratching....
*SECOND
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.
Ok. Here we
go!!
* FIRST PLACE
*
This year's
runaway First Place Stella Award winner was: Mrs. Merv
Grazinski, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, who purchased 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 in
case Mrs. Grazinski has any relatives who might also buy a motor
home.
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 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 Stellas for
the past year:
*SEVENTH
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.
Start
scratching!
* SIXTH 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.
Scratch some
more...
* FIFTH 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 and survive 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 must pay Dickson
$500,000 for his anguish. We should all have this kind of
anguish. Keep scratching. There are more....
Double
hand scratching after this
one..
*FOURTH
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.
Pick a new spot to scratch, you're getting a
bald spot..
* THIRD 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 earlier during an argument. What ever happened to people
being responsible for their own actions?
Only two
more so ease up on the
scratching....
*SECOND
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.
Ok. Here we
go!!
* FIRST PLACE
*
This year's
runaway First Place Stella Award winner was: Mrs. Merv
Grazinski, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, who purchased 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 in
case Mrs. Grazinski has any relatives who might also buy a motor
home.