Lawsuits in America: out of control
[h=3]
Annual Stella Awards [/h]
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 kind of cases that make you scratch your
head. So keep your head scratcher handy Here are the Stellas for this past
year — 2012
* 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 sued a Philadelphia restaurant. A
jury ordered the 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? 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. Go figure. Ok.
Here we go!! Drum roll …
* FIRST PLACE *
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 owners 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. If
you think the court system is out of control and America has lost ALL common
sense, be sure to pass this one on!!!
