Stella
Awards
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 the past year:
*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 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.
Awards
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 the past year:
*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 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.
