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.

That's right, these are awards for the most outlandish lawsuits and verdicts
That happened in the U.S. during 2006. 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:


To kick things off the right way, there was a three-way tie for 5th 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 Ms. Robertson's son.

Also in 5th place is Carl Truman, 19, of Los Angeles , California - you knew
California had to be in the list somewhere, right? - who 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
scratchier.

The last of the 5th Place winners was 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 subsist for eight -
count 'em, 8! - 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.

Jerry Williams, of Little Rock, Arkansas, garnered 4th Place in the
"Stellas" 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 it's 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.


Third Place went to Amber Carson of Lancaster , Pennsylvania , because a
jury ordered a Philadelphia restaurant to pay her $113,500 after she slipped
on soft drink and broke her tailbone (coccyx). 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 Stellas to go.

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.


Finally, (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, no less - having driven on to
the free way, 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 - you are sitting
down, right? - $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 motor home.

Carl, you might consider suing the maker of that zipper.

 

What ever happened to "Justice?" The world is well on its way to hell.

 

...and I'm going to sue FTE for making me have nightmares after reading about Carl and his zipper......



Pete

 

it was an anti Hillary joke i swear....though i did happen to me about 10 yrs ago.

 

If juries actually award these things......Who is more stupid? The jury or the plaintiff?

 

THE JUDGE!!!!

 

This is insane.

Maybe the neighbor should have sued Jerry in return. After all, their beagle never had doggy breath until the butt bite.

This kind of stuff makes me wonder whether I should stop & help someone change a tire. They might hurt their back because I got the lug nut on too tight for them.

 

Isn't Grazinski a Polish name? Not trying to start anything, but it does make you wonder about the Polish jokes that will follow Mrs Grazinski around for the rest of her life. I guess the stereotype are legit in her care anyway.

 

I believe the statue of limitations is 11 years.

 

Sorry, but all the "cases" listed are bunk. This circulates via email etc, as it has since '02.

http://www.snopes.com/legal/lawsuits.asp

 

For the real Stella awards go to: www.stellaawards.com