Its 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. Oh yes...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, OK, who purchased a 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 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 .
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. Oh yes...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, OK, who purchased a 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 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 .
