2005 Annual "Stella Awards

[BottleofRum]

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 successfully sued McDonald's (in
NM). That case inspired the Stella awards for the most frivolous,
ridiculous, successful lawsuits in the United States.

Here are this year's winners:

5th Place (tie):

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.

5th Place (tie):

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 (tie):

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 run away 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.

[ragtopW]

you gotta love America..




now if you get thrown out of your Apartment because your roommate smokes (never in the apartment) you are on your own..

[Sidew13]

What in God's name is this country coming to?

[Big Red Parrothead]

The good news is this list is fake. (http://www.snopes.com/legal/lawsuits.asp)

The bad news is that our legal system has gotten so out of whack that they're actually believeable.

[iuparrothead]

A woman here in Chicago has just filed suit against James Frey, the author of 'A Million Little Pieces'... claiming consumer fraud... which is potentially true, since the SmokingGun.com has recently found evidence that there are false stories/details in his 'memoir'... but she said she had an emotional reaction after watching the Oprah Winfrey show and then reading his book which caused her great anxiety after finding out his book might only be 95% true.

Sick people... they don't bother to get help... they sue.

[RAGTOP]

Sue me...? Sue you! Sue everybody!

[pbans]

Here's something worth a read, too.....there really was more to the Liebeck case than we heard about in the media....
http://www.cullanlaw.com/web-content/Pa ... tella.html

[iuparrothead]

Here's something worth a read, too.....there really was more to the Liebeck case than we heard about in the media....
http://www.cullanlaw.com/web-content/Pa ... tella.html

That's fascinating! Thanks for posting that!

[pbans]

Here's something worth a read, too.....there really was more to the Liebeck case than we heard about in the media....
http://www.cullanlaw.com/web-content/Pa ... tella.html

That's fascinating! Thanks for posting that!

I heard the 'real' story when I went to a class on risk management....they even said that OSHA had warned McDs about the coffee, but they ignored it.....I always feel like Stella gets a bum rap....she just wanted her cooch fixed.

[RinglingRingling]

The good news is this list is fake. (http://www.snopes.com/legal/lawsuits.asp)

The bad news is that our legal system has gotten so out of whack that they're actually believeable.

was going to say that most of those stories sound like retreads from years past.

[Crzy]

Here's something worth a read, too.....there really was more to the Liebeck case than we heard about in the media....
http://www.cullanlaw.com/web-content/Pa ... tella.html

That's fascinating! Thanks for posting that!

I heard the 'real' story when I went to a class on risk management....they even said that OSHA had warned McDs about the coffee, but they ignored it.....I always feel like Stella gets a bum rap....she just wanted her cooch fixed.

can I get a monitor squeegee please.. I just spit my sub everywhere

[iuparrothead]

Here's something worth a read, too.....there really was more to the Liebeck case than we heard about in the media....
http://www.cullanlaw.com/web-content/Pa ... tella.html

That's fascinating! Thanks for posting that!

I heard the 'real' story when I went to a class on risk management....they even said that OSHA had warned McDs about the coffee, but they ignored it.....I always feel like Stella gets a bum rap....she just wanted her cooch fixed.

can I get a monitor squeegee please.. I just spit my sub everywhere

I concur! Almost just spit a cashew onto my keyboard!

[LIPH]

I don't care how many times McDonalds was told the coffee was too hot, anyone who has to be told not to put a cup of hot coffee between their legs when they're sitting in a car shouldn't allowed out in public without adult supervision.

[mings]

I don't care how many times McDonalds was told the coffee was too hot, anyone who has to be told not to put a cup of hot coffee between their legs when they're sitting in a car shouldn't allowed out in public without adult supervision.

actually I think they shouldn't be allowed out at all. We should gather them all up on every short bus we can find and take them to a far off land and leave 'em. Stella was stupid. There has to be some level of accountability. She had none and profited from it.