Post by OB1SAM on Jan 13, 2007 12:44:20 GMT -5
Thought that you'd like these:
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 N.M.). 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 toddlerwas
>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. In my opinion this is so
>outrageous that it should have been 2nd Place !
>
>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'sbeagle. The beagle was on a chain in its owner's fenced yard. The
>award was less than sought because the jury thought 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
>thefloor 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 motor
>home. 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
>driver's seat to go into the back & make herself a sandwich. Not
>surprisingly, the RV left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Mrs.
>Grazinski sued Winnebago fornot 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.
>
>:(OB1SAM/samdon