Craig in Alabama
New member
ONLY IN THE USA
>
>
> 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 of
>New
>Mexico who spilled hot coffee on herself and successfully sued McDonald's.
>That case inspired the Stella awards for the most frivolous, ridiculous,
>successful lawsuits in the United States.
>
> Here are this year's winners:
>
> 7th 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 owners of the store were
>understandably surprised at the verdict, considering the misbehaving little
>toddler was Ms. Robertson's son.
>
> 6th Place: 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: 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 runaway 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 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.
>
>
>
> 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 of
>New
>Mexico who spilled hot coffee on herself and successfully sued McDonald's.
>That case inspired the Stella awards for the most frivolous, ridiculous,
>successful lawsuits in the United States.
>
> Here are this year's winners:
>
> 7th 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 owners of the store were
>understandably surprised at the verdict, considering the misbehaving little
>toddler was Ms. Robertson's son.
>
> 6th Place: 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: 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 runaway 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 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.
>
