the 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 this past year -- 2009:


*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.


Are we, as a society, getting more stupid....
or are more members of Congress serving on juries these days?





Have a Great Day

What ever happened to common sense? I think the juries need to be taken out back and the stupidity beaten out of them.

sounds like the jury was on crack rock in all those cases or drank to much apple pie over the weekend thinking about the verdict

sad but true, lol