catty Posted September 26, 2006 Share Posted September 26, 2006 Grrr. Used to be only in America, but it is happenbing here to. Time once again to review the winners of the Annual "Stella Awards." The Stella Awards are named after 81 year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled hot coffee on herself and successfully sued McDonald's (in NM). That case inspired the Stella Awards for the most frivolous, ridiculous, successful lawsuits in the United States. Here are this year's winners: 5th Place (tie): 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 owners of the store were understandably surprised at the verdict, considering the misbehaving little toddler was Ms. Robertson's son. 5th Place (tie): 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. 5th Place (tie): 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, and 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 $500,000. In my opinion this is so outrageous that it should have been 2nd Place ! 4th Place : Jerry Williams of Little Rock , Arkansas , was awarded $14,500 and medical expenses after being bitten on the buttocks by his next door neighbor's beagle. The beagle was on a chain in its owner's fenced 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 had climbed over the fence into the yard and was shooting it repeatedly with a pellet gun. 3rd Place : A Philadelphia restaurant was ordered to pay Amber Carson of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, $113,500 after she slipped on soft drink and broke her coccyx (tailbone). The beverage was on the floor because Ms Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument. 2 ND Place : 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. 1st Place : This year's runaway winner was Mrs. Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City , Oklahoma Mrs. Grazinski purchased a brand new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On her first trip home, (from an OU football game), having driven onto the freeway, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the drivers seat to go into the back & make herself a sandwich. Not surprisingly, the RV left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Mrs.Grazinski sued Winnebago for not advising her in the owner's manual that she couldn't actually do this. The jury awarded her $1,750,000. plus a new motor home. The company actually changed their manuals on the basis of this suit, just in case there were any other complete morons around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roxbury Posted September 27, 2006 Share Posted September 27, 2006 There are lots of ridiculous lawsuits out there, unfortunately these ones are not true. There is a website for the True Stella Awards http://www.stellaawards.com/, which reports on ridiculous verified lawsuits, and also has a page which states these cases are bogus http://www.stellaawards.com/bogus.html You can subscribe to a newsletter (which I do) which reports documented lawsuits every so often. Don't worry, many of the verified lawsuits are just as unbelievable as the fictitious ones listed above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catty Posted September 27, 2006 Author Share Posted September 27, 2006 Ahh I didn't want to hear that. I had my bags packed and I was off to the states to get me some money.:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadMikeAU Posted September 27, 2006 Share Posted September 27, 2006 I used to be an avid watcher of Judge Judy. Sometimes I didnt agree with her vertict, but I would see the logic she used to get there...until tis one case. Now I never watch the dumbarse... Defendant is a big guy in his early 20s. He is at a train station with his mates. his mates point out that a little dweeb (the plaintiff) is talking shit about him (the defendant). The defendant says "meh? Never met him before" and ignores it. The plaintiff takes this as an invitation, and starts talking shit again about the defendant, so he can hear it. All to impress his girlfriend. the defendant then tells the plaintiff to STFU. But as he turns his back to walk away, the plaintiff swings his skateboard at his head, narrowly missing. The defendant decks the plaintiff (before he can have another swing). The defendant's girlfriend the STABS THE DEFENDANT in the chest. Narrowly missing his heart, putting his in hospital for months, causes numerous surgeries and ending his football career. The plaintiff, BTW, walked away with a buised cheek. Vertict: Defendant lost and has to pay $5000 and cops a full on ear bashing from the judge. WTF? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Posted September 27, 2006 Share Posted September 27, 2006 There was one case that made think.. wtf.. is she really a judge? A guy was driving his car and he hit a parked car (not hard). That 'parked' car then rolled and knocked down this lady's front balcony. She owned the car as well and it was found out that she always parks her car in neutral with the handbrake off. The guy was happy enough to pay for the damage to the car, but not to the balcony because she had failed to secure the fucking vehicle (the stupid bitch). Bitch is sueing for both. The ruling... Judy played the arrogent know it all bitch and ruled in favour of the retarded bitch who parks her car in neutral :o Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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