FW: Winners of the annual "Stella Awards."

[Brendan]

On Sunday 26 August 2007, Ben Swann wrote:

10 seconds on Google:
http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/lawsuits.html
http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=3447


> Thought this to be of interest even if not much Audi content, though
> perhaps similar to the frivolous suit Audi endured due to CBS "60 Minutes 
> - Unintended Acceleration fiasco" later retracted as a farce.
>
>
>
> Subject: Winners of the annual "Stella Awards."
>
>
>
> 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 who spilled
> hot coffee on herself and success-fully sued McDonald's (in New Mexico )
> That case inspired the Stella Awards for the most frivolous and ridiculous,
> yet 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 when she tripped over a toddler who was
> running inside a furniture store. The owners of the store were
> understandably surprised at the verdict, considering that the misbehaving
> little toddler was Ms. Robertson's son.
> ****************
>
> 6th Place
> Nineteen-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 because the automatic door opener malfunctioned.  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, so 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 home owners' insurance company, claiming the situation caused
> him undue mental anguish. The jury agreed to the tune of $500,000. In my
> opinion, this is SO outrageous that it should have been 2nd Place
> ********************
>
> 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 neighbors'
> beagle. The beagle was on a chain in its owners' fenced yard.  The award
> was less than originally sought, because the jury felt that 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 (tail bone). 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 P lace (drum roll, please)
> This year's runaway winner was Mrs. Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City ,
> Oklahoma . Mrs. Grazinski purchased a brand-new, 32-foot-long 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 driver's seat to go into the back to 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 that. The jury awarded her $1,750,000 plus a
> new motor home. The company actually changed its manuals on the basis of
> this law suit, just in case there were any other complete morons around.
>
> P.S.
> I think the jury pool is 'dumbing down'!!!!!
> None of this speaks well for America or its justice system.  May the Good
> Lord keep us not only separated from idiots like these but safe from them,
> as well.
>
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