Stella Awards

[$parechange]

> *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 Stellas for this past year -- 2009:**
> **
>
> *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 are more members of Congress serving on juries these days?*

[DMS]

True story...A local girl claimed a neighboring county resident raped her. While being pressed about the date of the alledged crime she said, (and I quote) "All summer long". Case dismissed.