>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. 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 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 runaway 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
driver's
>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.
Das ist zwar kein Zeitungsartikel aber trotzdem so "outrageous", dass ich Euch das auch weiterleiten wollte! .. und da es sich um keinen Witz sondern Tatsachen handelt, ist es hier besser aufgehoben, als im Witzthread!
