These just can not be true???
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 child was Ms. Robertson's son.
2. June 1998: 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
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 existed 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
neighbour's beagle. The beagle was
on a chain in its 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.
6. December 1997: 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.
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.
(Winniebago actually changed their
handbooks on the basis of this court case, just in case there are any other
complete morons buying their vehicles)
