This will either make you laugh or cry!
>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...?
