Annual Stella Awards...

[coupe]

Annual Stella Awards...



It's time once again to consider the candidates for the annual Stella Awards.

The Stella's are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled coffee on herself and successfully sued McDonalds. That case inspired the Stella awards for the most frivolous, successful, lawsuits in the United States.

The following are this year's candidates:

1. 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 little toddler was Ms. Robertson's son.

2. A 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 hub caps.

3 .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 reenter 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.

4. 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 was shooting it repeatedly with a pellet gun.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. This year's favorite could easily be Mr. Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Mr. Grazinski purchased a brand new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On his first trip home, having driven onto 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 R.V. left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Mr. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not advising him in the owner's manual that he couldn't actually do this. The jury awarded him $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 total morons buying their recreation vehicles.

[lambic2000]

This just goes to show you that the United States of America needs a serious overhaul in the justice system. And people wonder why this country is headed the way it is.

Stephen

[thamlin000]

#1 sticks out to me.

It's your own damn son, control him!!!!

[rbt944]

Wow, this makes me very uneasy. I can't believe these people... I cant' believe those people got it their way. What's wrong with the Justice System!! people can sue others for their own wrongdoing and criminals walk away with their vicitims money.

-Gus.

[Blackfoot]

#1. where did you get this info?

[lambic2000]

Anybody ever hear of the series of books titled "Uncle John's Bathroom Reader"? If you haven't, pick one up. They are simple and small books you can put by the toilet that make for enjoyable reading. Every book has chapters devoted towards frivolous lawsuits and the enormous monies awarded by moronic jurors. One lawsuit that I will always remember was of a man who got so drunk, he wandered into a train yard and was run over by one of the trains. He lived. He sued and received a multi-million dollar award even though there were "keep out" signs posted everywhere. And it is not only the moronic jurors and frivolous lawsuits that piss me off. It is also the Judges who legislate from the bench instead of enforcing the law already on the books.

Stephen

[AFJuvat]

Originally posted by lambic2000
Anybody ever hear of the series of books titled "Uncle John's Bathroom Reader"? Stephen

I have all 14 or 15 volumes - in a customer built rack, right next to "the throne"

AFJuvat

[Z-man]

** Moving to OT forums. **

[tabs]

These are urban legends...... I posted the story of the Motor Home and it was proven to be an Urban Legend........They do sound believable though don't they......

[coupe]

www.stellaawards.com

Decide for yourselves what is fact or fiction....or maybe urban legend.