wisper
09-22-2007, 10:27 PM
Subject: Stella Awards
Proof of entitlement mentality
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 the 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:
7TH 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.
6TH 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.
Go ahead, grab your head scratcher.
5TH 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 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...
4TH 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.
Grrrrr ... Scratch, scratch.
3RD 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?
Scratch, scratch, scratch. Hang in there; there are only
two more Stella¢s to go...
2ND 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.
1ST PLACE: (May I have a fanfare played on 50 kazoos
please)
This year's runaway First Place Stella Award winner was
Mrs. Merv Grazinski, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, who
purchased a 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 incase Mrs. Grazinski has any
relatives who might also buy a motor home.
Are we, as a society, getting more stupid
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See what's new at AOL.com and Make
Proof of entitlement mentality
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 the 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:
7TH 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.
6TH 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.
Go ahead, grab your head scratcher.
5TH 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 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...
4TH 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.
Grrrrr ... Scratch, scratch.
3RD 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?
Scratch, scratch, scratch. Hang in there; there are only
two more Stella¢s to go...
2ND 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.
1ST PLACE: (May I have a fanfare played on 50 kazoos
please)
This year's runaway First Place Stella Award winner was
Mrs. Merv Grazinski, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, who
purchased a 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 incase Mrs. Grazinski has any
relatives who might also buy a motor home.
Are we, as a society, getting more stupid
------------------------------------------------------------
----------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
See what's new at AOL.com and Make