For those unfamiliar with the Stella Awards, they are named
after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck, who spilled hot coffee on
herself and successfully sued McDonald's in New Mexico where
she purchased the coffee. Sure, you remember -- she took the
lid off the coffee and put it between her knees while she
was driving. Who would have ever thought you could get
burned doing that, right?
That's right--these are the awards for the most outlandish
lawsuits and verdicts in the U.S . You know--the kind of
cases that make you scratch your head--keep that head
scratcher handy . . . Here are the Stella's for 2007:
7th Place:
Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas--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 Tru man,19, of Los Angeles, California--$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
the hubcaps off of it.
Go ahead, grab that head scratcher
5th Place:
Terrence Dickson, Bristol, Pennsylvania--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
k i nd of anguish.
Keep scratching, there's more
4th Place:
Jerry Williams, Little Rock, Arkansas -- 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! Ok, well Williams
didn't get as much as he asked for because the
jury believed the beagle might have been provoked at the
time of the butt bite since Williams had climbed over the
fence into the yard and repeatedly shot the dog with a
pellet gun. Ya think?
??
Scratch, scratch. Scratch . . .
3rd Place:
Amber Carson Lancaster, Pennsylvania --$113,500 after she
slipped on a spilled soft drink and broke her tailbone.
Why, you ask was the soft drink was on the floor??? Ms.
Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier
during an argument. Whatever happened to people being
responsible for their own actions?
Scratch, scratch, scratch -h ang in there-only two more
Stellas to go . .
2nd Place:
Kara Walton, 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, PLUS
all of her dental expenses. Go figure . .
1st Place :
(I need some fanfare here please)
This year's runaway First Place Stella Award winner was Mrs.
Merv Grazinski, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma , 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 overtu rne d. 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. A jury awarded her, (YOU
NEED TO SIT DOWN FIRST), $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 buy a motorhome.