Its a Mad World

[topten]

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 year -- 2013:

* 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.
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.


If you think the USA court system is out of control, be sure to pass this one on.

[waddo]

It is a shame that the TRNC is not recognised by the rest of the world, I feel sure that some of the above would pale into insignificance against the courts decisions here.

[erol]

The Stella Liebeck vs McDonalds case is to me, rather than an example of a legal system out of control, actually an example of out of context media sensationalism creating a totally distorted impression in 100's of millions of people, myself included. When I saw the mainstream media version of this story I too thought what an example of a legal system and compensation culture out of control. However when I dug a little deeper and got the full details of the case my view totally changed. I challenge anyone to look at the pictures of her actual injuries she sustained and do so knowing that McDonalds had previously had over 700 similar cases and done nothing in light of these, to review the temperature they mandated their coffee should be held at or to warn customers of this, to say that this was an example of a 'frivolous' lawsuit. I would post links to said pictures but to be honest they are to horrific to do so in my view in a forum such as this but they are easily found for those that want to seek them out. For a more 'balanced' view about this case you could try these links.

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2 ... la-liebeck

http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cur78.htm

For a look at the wider issue I strongly recommend people watch this documentary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgirwfnQqeM

[erol]

As for the 'examples' in the original post for the stella awards 2013 - there have been no such 'awards' since 2007. All of the cases quoted in the original post as being from 'Stella awards 2013' are in fact bogus and have been proven to be so, time after time by many people INCLUDING the authors of the real Stella awards. Yet they continue to circulate and be widely believed by many many people.

http://www.stellaawards.com/

http://www.stellaawards.com/bogus.html

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

It indeed is a 'mad world' but not I respectfully suggest for the reason the original poster implies in their post.

[sophie]

Come on guys, these are all from the USA and any right thinking person must admit they are bonkers from start to finish!!
As individuals they are great, but en masse ..........................bonkers!!

[erol]

Come on guys, these are all from the USA and any right thinking person must admit they are bonkers from start to finish!!
As individuals they are great, but en masse ..........................bonkers!!

They are all 'from the USA' and NONE of them are actually true. They are all made up stories that never happened, presented as 'real life examples'. The Stella Liebeck vs McDonalds case was true and I challenge anyone who looks at all the evidence in that case (and not just a media headline) to not decide as the jury of 12 ordinary people unanimously decided that McDonalds were partially at fault for what Stella Liebeck suffered.