[BITList] Stella awards

[franka]

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Subject: Fwd: Stella awards

*/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 and 
say WTH.  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.

*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.

*/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 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 in case Mrs. Grazinski has any relatives who 
might also buy a motor home.




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