# Stella awards - is the world going mad?



## siobhanwf (Mar 20, 2009)

The Stella Awards . . . 

_Can these be true?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 
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 kinds of cases that make 
you scratch your head. So keep your head scratcher handy. Here are the 
Stellas for the past year, all surprisingly in the US :_

* SEVENTH PLACE * Kathleen Robertson of 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, in 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, 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, 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 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? Only two 
more so ease up on the scratching....

*SECOND PLACE* Kara Walton 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!!

* FIRST PLACE * This year's runaway First Place Stella Award winner was: 
Mrs. Merv Grazinski, of Oklahoma City , Oklahoma , who purchased 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 in case Mrs. 
Grazinski has any relatives who might also buy a motor home.


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## loonytoon (Feb 11, 2009)

this has been doing the email rounds since at least 2000 (and some of them probably earlier

jeff


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

loonytoon said:


> this has been doing the email rounds since at least 2000 (and some of them probably earlier
> 
> jeff



But they are funny!! I'm tempted to send a copy to my local supermarket here in Spain, where I slipped on a wet floor and broke my knee a while ago! That'll give em something to think about!! 

Jo xxx


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## thepilotswife (Nov 22, 2009)

I think that's pretty awful.

I actually know Stella- she was the grandmother of the boy I was dating at the time and I went to part of the trial. I personally don't believe that coffee should be made to boiling point and then given to people to handle, but that's because I saw the 3rd degree burns she had on her thighs. Yes, it was an accident but McD's had settled over 300 cases of their coffee burning people worldwide and decided that because Stella was 79 and was only asking for her medical costs to be paid(a small sum, actually less than what McD's had paid in the past to the other burn victims), McD's decided that she would most likely die before collecting any money and therefore, decided not the pay. They showed that internal memo in court the day I was there. 

Sorry- off the soapbox now. People make fun of her and I know the true story, not just what was printed in the papers. It's hard for me to not say anything.


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## omostra06 (Sep 11, 2007)

some of them are shocking


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## siobhanwf (Mar 20, 2009)

Wow Erin thanks for sharing that


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