Stella Awards

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 this past year�

* 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 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, 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!!


* 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.

Are we, as a society, getting more stupid....�

Unfortunatly, they all, apparantly had a jury of their peers!

I think several of these might not pass the Snopes test. Before I continue, I want to say that I am not a trial lawyer, nor any other kind of lawyer. However, things are not always as they seem. In the MacDonalds coffee case, the MacDonalds location had been cautioned several times about the too high temperature of their coffee. This was not the first incident. Things are not always exactly how they appear.

I am most certainly not claiming that juries don't make apparently stupid decisions. So do judges, and I have witnessed a couple.

The McDonalds is down the street from my house. Here's WHY the jury (my "neighbors!!!) punished Ronald. The last sentence of a letter from Ronald's lawyer to Stella said:

"You must be stupid, stupid, stupid!"

Signed by Ronald's lawyer. Juries, being peers, and naturally hating lawyers, sided with Stella. No one, stupid or not, likes to be called triple stupid by a lawyer, in writing no less.
I leaned of this in a "communications" class in California, of all places. All Stella wanted was an apology and medical expenses, but NOT Stella's lawyer!!! It did settle for an undisclosed amount less than $1M though. You don't need to Snopes this one.

Moral: Say what you want if you (or your ex-client) have the money to back it up.

Yes Stella was real. Still have trouble seeing why she thought she deserved medical and medical in the first place.

The rest while good reading are nothing but that a funny story.

Pre-Stella, but it's gotta be true, no one can make this up:

Year's ago I had a friend who chaired a jury over in Jackson that handled a case that involved the collision between a city garbage truck and a car told this story--. The driver of the garbage truck was plainly responsible, he tail-ended the car. The poor passenger was seriously injured and had spent months in rehab with a fractured spine. He was finally released and was paralyzed from the waist down and would be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. He had been going to the local university but had to drop out and took a job as a salesman in a local department store. The garbage truck driver was suspended indefinitely.

The jury after due deliberation decided that damages had to be awarded, but voted to give the amount of the judgment to the garbage truck driver. They did not want to give the paralyzed victim anything. What was the jury thinking--they decided that the paralyzed victim had a good job, but the truck driver had not been able to find a job so he was on unemployment.

My friend was astonished and asked to have a conference with the judge. He explained what 11 of the jurors had decided and explained he didn't know what to. The judge said he was not surprised at all. He explained that it happen fairly often. He suspended the jury and ruled on the case from the bench. The victim was compensated by the City of Jackson. This was not a made-up story, it actually happened!

If the coffe was too hot and she burnt her tongue that would be one thing but she took the lid off and tried to hold it between her legs while she was driving. Sorry... 100% her fault and the jury was stupid stupid stupid for awarding her one dime.

quote:

Originally posted by nvmichael:
Stella Awards
<SNIP>
Are we, as a society, getting more stupid....�

Maybe, especially with Snopes just a click away.

http://www.snopes.com/legal/lawsuits.asp

BUSTED in NV!!!!!!!

Duplicate post.

quote:

If the coffe was too hot and she burnt her tongue that would be one thing but she took the lid off and tried to hold it between her legs while she was driving. Sorry... 100% her fault and the jury was stupid stupid stupid for awarding her one dime.

So, you have a reliable source that says she was driving the car while holding the cup between her legs? Probably not. You should do a bit of research before making stuff up.

Everything I have read says that Stella was a passenger in the car, that McDonalds knew hundreds of people were burning themselves on their 180-190 degree coffee (it stays fresher longer at that temp) and that Stella intially requested for $20,000 to cover hospital bills/skin grafts.

I am not excusing what Stella did, but at least try to get the story right. It is more interesting that way. You won't have to apoligize either. Snopes is a good place to start looking for info on these silly urban legends; it can help we as a society from getting more stupid.

Ranb

The decline and fall of the legal business - not a profession any longer - when I was in practice years back I would never have taken one of those cases. Back then there were serious ethical considerations and consequences for violations.
The death of the profession came when the Supreme Court (foxes guarding the hen house) allowed lawyers to advertise. Now every sleaze ball with a license is on TV stirring up litigation. Guess who gets the lion's share the money generated.

Yup!!