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PantyFanatic
01-26-2006, 11:07 AM
It's time once again to review the winners of the Annual "Stella
Awards." The Stella Awards are named after 81 year-old Stella Liebeck
Who spilled hot coffee on herself and successfully sued McDonald's (in
NM). That case inspired the Stella awards for the most frivolous,
Ridiculous, successful lawsuits in the United States.
Here are this year's winners:

5th Place (tie): 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 owners of the
Store were understandably surprised at the verdict, considering the
Misbehaving little toddler was Ms. Robertson's son.

5th Place (tie): 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.

5th Place (tie):
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.

4th Place:
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 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 had climbed over the
Fence into the yard and was shooting it repeatedly with a pellet gun.

3rd Place:
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.

2nd Place:
Kara Walton of Claymont, Delaware, successfully sued the owner of a
Night club in a neighboring 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.

1st Place:
This year's run away winner was Mrs. Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City,


Oklahoma. Mrs. Grazinski purchased a brand new 32-foot Winnebago
motorhome. On her first trip home, (from an OU football game), having
driven onto the freeway, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly
left the drivers seat to go into the back & make herself a sandwich. Not
Surprisingly, the RV left the freeway, crashed and overturned.
Mrs.Grazinski sued Winnebago for not advising her in the owner's manual
That she couldn't actually do this. The jury awarded her $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
Around.

Think about these the next time you make out a check for your insurance. ;) ROFLMAO

gekkogecko
01-26-2006, 11:25 AM
The most disturbing thing about these is that the awards were granted by a jury...


Of these peoples' PEERS!

wyndhy
01-26-2006, 01:32 PM
oh fer cryin' out loud.

Aqua
01-26-2006, 01:55 PM
I'm going out on a limb and predicting that most, if not all, of those lawsuits never happened. Especially the last one since I remember an email from a few years ago telling the woeful tale of a wealthy foreigner that came to America and wrecked his new RV by setting the cruise control and going into the back to make a sandwich. /party pooper :p

Debbie_007
01-26-2006, 08:38 PM
Ya...I agree. People can't be THAT stupid! (Greedy maybe, but not stupid)

Oldfart
01-28-2006, 06:06 AM
Didn't Einstein say something about the only infinities were the universe and the human capacity for stupidity, except he wasn't totally sure about the universe.

Steph
01-28-2006, 09:51 AM
Aqua's correct.

PF, you're bitter enough as it is. Do your research before you believe everything you read. :rolleyes:

http://www.snopes.com/legal/lawsuits.asp

Stella Awards

Claim: * Six outrageous-but-real lawsuits showcase the need for tort reform.
Status: * False.
Example: * [Collected on the Internet, 2001]

Origins: * This "and you wonder what's wrong with the world today?" whinge appeared on the Internet in May 2001. All of the entries in the list are fabrications: a search for news stories about each of these cases failed to turn up anything, as did a search for each law case.

The earliest version concluded with a seventh item that has since been snipped away, likely after someone noticed it was the venerable microwaved poodle legend. Its inclusion would have immediately called into question the truthfulness of the other six cases for any number of folks familiar with urban legends. The remaining six were still false, but they weren't as obviously false as the following poodle tale and thus wouldn't have set the alarm bells ringing:

7. And just so you know that cooler heads do occasionally prevail: Kenmore Inc., the makers of Dorothy Johnson's microwave, were found not liable for the death of Mrs. Johnson's poodle after she gave it a bath and attempted to dry it by putting the poor creature in her microwave for, "just a few minutes, on low," The case was quickly dismissed.
A version of the list that began circulating in the spring of 2002 has yet another urban legend included as its final item, the venerable cruise control legend:

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 could not actually do this. He was awarded $1,750,000 plus a new Winnebago.
Some versions bear the following footer, although many omit it:

PLEASE ASSIST OUR LAW OFFICES IN A TORT REFORM PROGRAM. WE ARE ATTEMPTING TO PUT A STOP TO THESE INSANE JURY AWARDS BY SENDING THIS E-MAIL OUT TO THE PUBLIC IN THE HOPES OF SWAYING PUBLIC OPINION. PLEASE FORWARD IT TO EVERY EMAIL ADDRESS YOU KNOW.

Mary R. Hogelmen, Esq.
Law Offices of Hogelmen, Hogelmen, and Thomas
Dayton Ohio
There is no law firm of Hogelmen, Hogelmen, and Thomas in Dayton, Ohio, as a call to directory assistance quickly confirmed. This detail was included to give the mailing credibility in the eyes of those who received it: if a law firm had pulled this list together to build grassroots support for its tort reform program, then it went without saying a pack of lawyers had properly researched each item and were guaranteeing the information provided. But of course this detail was as false as everything else in the e-mail.

Fake or not, a list of outrageous awards bestowed upon those whose actions — nay, misbehaviors — had brought them to grief would fall upon very receptive ears because current feeling is very much against large jury awards for frivolous claims. This e-mail preaches to the choir in that it "confirms" what is already deeply believed.

Some celebrated "outrageous" suits wherein judgement went for the plaintiff prove upon closer examination to be far less "outrageous" than originally presented in the media. (For example, the "woman scalded by hot coffee" suit, which at first blush looked like the height of frivolity proved to be a perfectly legitimate action taken against a corporation that knew, thanks to a string of similar scaldings it had quietly been paying off, that its coffee was not just hot, but dangerously hot. The Consumer Attorneys of California provides a good description of this case).
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(There's a lot more info on Snopes.)