This is funny, but should be distributed with a disclaimer Stella Awards
The Stella Awards are named after 81 year-old Stella Liebeck who
spilled hot coffee on herself and successfully sued McDonald's (in
NM). That case inspired the Stella Awards for the most frivolous,
ridiculous, successful lawsuits in the United States.

HERE IS THE AWARD BEING PRESENTED TO THIS YEAR'S DESERVING WINNERS

AND THE WINNERS ARE:

5th Place (tie): 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 owners of the
store were understandably surprised at the verdict, considering the
misbehaving little toddler was Ms. Robertson's son.



5th Place (tie):

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 didn't notice there was someone at the wheel of
the car when he was trying to steal his neighbor's hubcaps.



5th Place (tie): Terrence Dickson of Bristol, Pennsylvania, was
leaving a 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 couldn't re-enter the house
because the door connecting the house and garage locked when he
pulled it shut. The family was on vacation, and Mr. Dickson found
himself locked in the garage for eight days. He subsisted on a case
of Pepsi he found, and a large bag of dry dog food. He sued the
homeowner's insurance claiming the situation caused him undue mental
anguish. The jury agreed, to the tune of $500,000. In my opinion
this is so outrageous that it should have been 2nd Place!



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. 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 just a little provoked at the time by
Mr. Williams who had climbed over the fence into the yard and 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, successfully sued the
owner of a night club in a neighboring city when she fell from the
bathroom window to the floor and knocked out her two front teeth.
This occurred while Ms. Walton was trying to sneak through the window
in the ladies room to avoid paying the $350 cover charge. She was
awarded $12,000 and dental expenses.



1st Place: This year's runaway winner was Mrs. Merv Grazinski of
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Mrs. Grazinski purchased a brand 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 into the back & make
herself a sandwich. Not surprisingly, the RV left the freeway,
crashed and overturned. Mrs. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not
advising her in the owner's manual that she couldn't actually do
this. The jury awarded her $1,750,000 plus a new motor home. The
company actually changed their manuals on the basis of this suit,
just in case there were any other complete morons around.





STINKS, DOESN'T IT?

You know, the McDonald's coffee lady is always trotted out as an example of courts gone wrong, but actually, if you look at the facts of the case, it wasn't as ridiculous as it seems. The coffee McDonalds was serving was 40 degrees warmer than similar establishments and/or the average coffee made at home, so you can't make the "she should have known it was hot" argument...she had no way of knowing it was THAT hot.

The woman received 3rd degree burns (its not like you spilling coffee you made at home and getting a little red...the burns were "full-thickness"). The coffee was hot enough that, on average, it would take 2-7 seconds to cause a full-thickness burn if held onto the skin. She was in the hospital for 8 days, had numerous skin grafts. NO ONE anticipates that coffee is going to do that to you.

Prior to her, over 700 burn claims had been made against McDonalds for the same reason (their company policy was to hold the coffee at 180 degrees, plus or minus 5 degrees), and at least some of those claims had been paid off by McDonalds out of court. They were aware of the problem and did not change the coffee temperature, despite over 700 burns, at least several of which were third degree, full-thickness burns.

The woman tried to settle with McDonalds before going to court, also, for $20,000...cost of her medical bills. McDonalds refused.

A really great summary of this case can be found here:

http://www.caoc.com/CA/index.cfm?eve...wPage&pg=facts

None of the events described in this particular article actually happened, so don't panic! The legal system may be screwed up, but it isn't that screwed up.

Good to know, Amanda! I prolly shoulda snopes'ed this before I posted it.

And NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition!

Sorry, the devil made me do it ...

that is funny i dont care about the legalities lighten up and have a laugh as this board suggests

Amanda, you took the words right out of my mouth.

I am about as anti-lawsuit as they come and I researched the McDonald's coffee case hoping to use it in a letter to some legislators pleading for relief from spiking medical malpractice premiums that all baby catchers are facing; I was glad I did. Sometimes there is repeated and blatent disregard for public safety....

I respect Gina and I know that she posted them in the spirit of humor.

The examples are funny! I wasn't arguing with it being posted, just trying to provide reassurance. I think if those things were true I'd have to move out of the country, lol!

Let's all sing kumbayah...I feel a group hug coming on!!

ooooh, GROUP HUG!

Not to dampen the group hug moment, but I'd just like to add my .02 on the McDonald's coffee....

Maybe no one knew it was THAT hot, and maybe they should've been forced to reduce the temperature as the "extreme" hotness in itself was a danger, but if someone doesn't know that sitting a hot cup of coffee between their legs isn't dangerous, they've got more of a problem than just the temperature.

LOL - I second the hug idea