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.
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Here are the Stellas for this year:
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SEVENTH PLACE *
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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.
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Start scratching!
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SIXTH PLACE *
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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.
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Scratch some more...
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FIFTH PLACE *
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Terrence Dickson, of Bristol , Pennsylvania , 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 days he
survived 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
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Keep scratching. There are more...
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Double hand scratching after this one..
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FOURTH PLACE *
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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.
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> Pick a new spot to scratch, you're getting a bald spot..
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THIRD PLACE *
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> 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.
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> Only two more so ease up on the scratching...
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SECOND PLACE*
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> 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.
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> Ok. Here we go!!
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FIRST PLACE *
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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. 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.
If you think the USA court system is out of control, you are right.
Just joking. 