The Stella Awards

I got this hilarious e-mail called "The Stella Awards" for the most absurd lawsuits of the year.  Be weary future lawyers of America!  It gives you some serious insight into how sue-happy Americans, too!

> > >> 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 f or 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 plu s 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 burglarizedby 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 ei ght, 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 as ked 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, scra tch, scratch. Hang in there; there are only two more
> > >> Stella's togo...
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> 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.

Isn't that crazy!?!?!?!?!  That's all I really have for now, but I was dying to share that with the world, so I went ahead and copied it on!

Tags: Life, America, Lawsuits, Future