please control the lawers!!!!

[lane912]

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 Stella’s for the past year:


*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 what?
There are lawyers to be eliminated, judges to be removed or shot, jurors to
be screened more carefully for an IQ above 50 before being accepted to
hear cases. Is there a law stating that a juror must be a drooling moron?

[Neilk]

Per Snopes, they are all fake stories.

Sorry.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by Neilk

Per Snopes, they are all fake stories.

Sorry.

You're schitting me.

[lane912]

well that is better, you never can tell in this world we live in though-

[Joeaksa]

You really believe snopes? Wish there was an unbiased place to vet things like this.

[gprsh924]

Well one click one the stella awards website washes away almost all of its possible credibility

[cbush]

Of course there is more to the McDonald's story than meets the eye also. A normal hot cup of coffee would not normally cause 2nd degree burns. But what if a company intentionally superheated the coffee just so it would stay fresher longer reducing waste, and thus make more money---and that coffee could cause 2nd degree burns. Well that doesn't sound too fair to the consumer--and it didn't to the jury.

Glad to hear these others are fake.

[Nathans_Dad]

That case is STILL horseschit.

What determines a "normal" cup of coffee's temperature? Not only that, did the lawyers involved run independent tests to show that "normal" coffee would not cause burns? Thirdly, McDonald's is only guilty of trying to serve coffee that stays hotter longer, which is how most people like to drink coffee...you know, hot.

And finally, if someone hands you a cup of hot liquid and YOU decide to place that cup of hot liquid between your legs while driving...then you are simply a dumbass and you don't deserve a dime.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by Nathans_Dad

That case is STILL horseschit.

What determines a "normal" cup of coffee's temperature? Not only that, did the lawyers involved run independent tests to show that "normal" coffee would not cause burns? Thirdly, McDonald's is only guilty of trying to serve coffee that stays hotter longer, which is how most people like to drink coffee...you know, hot.

And finally, if someone hands you a cup of hot liquid and YOU decide to place that cup of hot liquid between your legs while driving...then you are simply a dumbass and you don't deserve a dime.

Yeah, you're right. I like it McDonald's style. You know, hot enough to burn a trach hole in your throat if you drink it when they give it to you and the temperature of warm piss when you remember that you set it aside to cool 15 minutes ago.

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by cbush

Of course there is more to the McDonald's story than meets the eye also. A normal hot cup of coffee would not normally cause 2nd degree burns. But what if a company intentionally superheated the coffee just so it would stay fresher longer reducing waste, and thus make more money---and that coffee could cause 2nd degree burns. Well that doesn't sound too fair to the consumer--and it didn't to the jury.

Glad to hear these others are fake.

I do not believe it is a good idea to reward stupidity. you apparently have a different opinion than that.
Are you an attorney by any chance?

[DARISC]

If you're going to blame an attorney, blame the losing counsel, or the jury, or the judge. The winning attorney did his/her job. If it was a stupid or frivolous case, blame the judge who allowed it to be tried rather than tossing it out as frivolous, or whatever.

[DARISC]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

I do not believe it is a good idea to reward stupidity.

No, it's not.

you apparently have a different opinion than that.

Apparent to you...based on what?

Are you an attorney by any chance?

Maybe he's just someone who doesn't see everything in black and white (really, a lot of people don't! ).

I can't speak directly to the MacDonalds hot coffee case, but regardless of whether or not it's stupid to do what the woman did (yeah, it was), rather than rewarding her stupidity, maybe the court saw the matter as punishing MacDonalds for the stupidity of serving a superheated beverage without warning the customer.

If MacDonalds was in fact violating some law by serving dangerously hot coffee, yeah, fine the warm piss out of them - but don't give the money to the stupid woman. Maybe award her what her medical deductable didn't cover, then give the rest to some charity who helps burn victims.

..

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by lane912

well that is better, you never can tell in this world we live in though-

no, you really can.

[RWebb]

1. snopes IS the unbiased place to find if an Internet rumor is fake or not

2. Stella Liebeck's coffee was much hotter than McDonald's OWN instructions to their stores allowed -- at the correct temperature, one can indeed put it in between your legs (tho this somehow is starting to sound like a Lubemaster thread...)

the key point is the severity of the burns she suffered.

3. Nathans_Dad - #2 explains what the temp. should be - McD's figured out "for their own self" -- also do really want LAWYERS to run the tests???

[gprsh924]

Here is a good writeup on the case:

Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

and before anyone yells about wikipedia, nearly every material fact presented is cited

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by gprsh924

Here is a good writeup on the case:

Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

and before anyone yells about wikipedia, nearly every material fact presented is cited

That Wiki entry reads like all lies instead of what everyone knows really happened.

[gprsh924]

I'm almost certain that is sarcasm, but please confirm.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

LOL, yes!

[URY914]

The motorhome on cruise control has happened here before. My brother was one of the cops that worked the wreck. It seems a middle eastern man landed at the airport took a taxi to the RV rental place to rent one for his family's trip to Disney World. Once on the road he had to take a leak. He set the cruise and walked to the back. No one was hurt.....

[Nathans_Dad]

Originally Posted by speeder

Yeah, you're right. I like it McDonald's style. You know, hot enough to burn a trach hole in your throat if you drink it when they give it to you and the temperature of warm piss when you remember that you set it aside to cool 15 minutes ago.

First of all, I do not buy coffee from McDonald's. However the idea that McDonald's coffee was hotter than other coffee was bogus as noted in the Wiki article on the trial. Excerpt is below:

"Though defenders of the Liebeck verdict argue that her coffee was unusually hotter than other coffee sold, other major vendors of coffee, including Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, Wendy's, and Burger King, produce coffee at a similar or higher temperature, and have been subjected to similar lawsuits over third-degree burns.[18]

Home and commercial coffee makers often reach comparable temperatures.[19] The National Coffee Association of U.S.A. instructs that coffee should be brewed "between 195-205 degrees Fahrenheit [91–96 °C] for optimal extraction" and consumed "immediately". If not consumed immediately, the coffee is to be "maintained at 180-185 degrees Fahrenheit".[20]"

So, McDonald's coffee was brewed at the optimum temperature according to the National Coffee Makers association.

The Wiki article says the woman SAT in 185 degree coffee for 90 SECONDS. Seriously? You can't move your butt in 90 seconds out of a scalding hot pool of liquid???