Stellas Awards

[zbalansowany]

The Stellas are named after 81 year old Stella Liebeck who spilled coffee on
herself and successfully sued McDonald's. That case inspired the Stella
Awards for the most frivolous successful lawsuits in the United States.

THIS YEAR'S AWARDS GO TO...

5TH PLACE (TIED): Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas, was awarded $780,000
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 toddler
was Ms. Robertson' son. (I'd say this was life's payback - Harvey)

5TH PLACE (TIED): 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 did not notice there was someone at the wheel of the car
when he was trying to steal the hubcaps. (More paybacks - Harvey)

5TH PLACE (TIED): Terrence Dickson of Bristol, Pennsylvania, was leaving the
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 could not re-enter the house because the door connecting
the house and garage had locked when he pulled it shut. (Karma? - Harvey)

The family was on vacation and Mr. Dickson found himself locked in the
garage for 8 days. He subsisted on a case of Pepsi he found and a large bag
of dry dog food. He sued the homeowners insurance, claiming the situation
caused him undue mental anguish. The Jury agreed to the tune of$500,000 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 dog. 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
a little provoked at the time, as Mr. Williams, who had climbed over the
fence into the yard, 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 sued the owner of a Night Club
in a neighboring city when she fell from the bathroom window to the floor
and knocked out two of her front teeth. This occurred while Ms. Walton was
trying to sneak in the window of the Ladies Room to avoid paying the $3.50
cover charge. She was awarded $12,000 and dental expenses. (She can now pay
her cover charge out of the 12 Grand! - Harvey)

1ST PLACE: This year's runaway winner was Mr. Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma
City, Oklahoma. Mr. Grazinski purchased a brand new Winnebago Motor home. On
his trip home from an OU football game, having driven onto the freeway, he
set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the driver's seat to go
into the back and make himself a cup of coffee.

Not surprisingly the RV left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Mr.
Grazinski sued Winnebago for not advising him in the owner's manual that he
could not actually do this. The jury awarded him $1,750,000 plus a ew
Winnebago Motor home. The company actually changed their manuals on the
basis of this suit, just in case there were any other complete morons buying
their recreational vehicle.