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The Stella Awards
 

offline mortsto-x from Trondheim/Bodø (Norway) on 2002-04-19 16:40 [#00184604]
Points: 8062 Status: Lurker



Got this on mail. Don't know if it's true, but I guess it's
just like europeans like to think of you americans :)

The Stella Awards - America at its very best!

The "Stella" awards rank up there with the Darwin awards.

In 1994, A New Mexico jury awarded $ 2.9 million U.S. in
damages to
81-year-old Stella Liebeck who suffered third-degree burns
to her legs,
groin and buttocks after spilling a cup of McDonald's coffee
on herself.
This case inspired an annual award ? The "Stella" Award -
for the most
frivolous lawsuit in the U.S.

The ones listed below are clear candidates. All these cases
are Verging on
the outright ridiculous and yet (in the good old USA) with
the right
attorney you could win anything!

1. January 2000: Kathleen Robertson of Austin Texas was
awarded $780,000 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
so-and-so was Ms. Robertson's son.

2. June 1998: A 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.

3. October 1998: A 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. 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 half a
million dollars.

4. October 19


 

offline mortsto-x from Trondheim/Bodø (Norway) on 2002-04-19 16:40 [#00184605]
Points: 8062 Status: Lurker



Too big....
Here's part 2

4. October 1999: Jerry Williams of Little Rock, Arkansas was
awarded $14,500
and medical expenses after being bitten on the buttocks by
his next door
neighbour's beagle. The beagle was on a chain in it's
owner's fenced-in
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 was
shooting it repeatedly with a pellet gun.

5. May 2000: 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. The beverage was on the floor because Ms. Carson
threw it at her
boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument.

6. December 1997: 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 $3.50 cover charge. She was
awarded $12,000
and dental expenses.

And the winner is:

Mr Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City. In November 2000 Mr
Grazinski Purchased
a brand new 32 foot Winnebago motor home. On his first trip
home, having
joined the freeway, he set the cruise control at 70 mph and
calmly left the
drivers seat to go into the back and make himself a cup of
coffee. Not
surprisingly the Winnie left the freeway, crashed and
overturned. Mr
Grazinski sued Winnebago for not advising him in the
handbook that he
couldn't actually do this. He was awarded $1,750,000 plus a
new Winnie.
(Winniebago actually changed their handbooks on the back of
this court case,
just in case there are any other complete morons buying
their vehicles.)



 


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