Stella Awards

Bubba Grizz · Post by **Bubba Grizz** » December 11, 2002, 11:28 am

Things just don't cut and paste like they used to anymore. Tried to clean it up a bit.

If any of you were not wondering about the mental state of some of our
citizens, you will after you read the following examples. And these
people are on juries(!) .... making decisions(!)

It's time once again to consider the candidates for the annual Stella
Awards. These prizes should rank right up there with the Beagle Awards as prime examples that Darwin might have been wrong. The Stella's are
named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled coffee on herself and successfully sued McDonalds. That case inspired the Stella Awards for the most frivolous successful lawsuits in the United States. Actually,
the award should be given to the flaming idiots who awarded anything at all to these morons---who deserved NOTHING!!!! The last one is the BEST!

The following are this year's candidates:

1. Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas, was awarded $780,000 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.

2. Carl Truman, 19, 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 hub caps.

3. 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 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.

4. 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 was shooting it repeatedly with a pellet gun.

5. A Philadelphia restaurant was ordered to pay Amber Carson of
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, $113,500 after she slipped on a 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.

6. 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.

***7.This year's favorite is Mr. Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma.
Mr. Grazinski purchased a brand new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On his drive home, having driven onto the freeway, he set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the drivers seat to go into the back and make himself a cup of coffee. Not surprisingly, the R.V. left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Mr. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not advising
him in the owner's manual that he couldn't do this. The jury awarded him $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 buying their recreational vehicle.

Phugg_Innay · Post by **Phugg_Innay** » December 11, 2002, 11:34 am

Oh My Fargin lord , I think we have found Searyx's relatives again

Neost · Post by **Neost** » December 11, 2002, 12:54 pm

These are all false. They have been debunked as urban myths:

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

Bubba Grizz · Post by **Bubba Grizz** » December 11, 2002, 1:03 pm

Whew, thanks for that Neost. I blame myself for not checking on this myself. I get a lot of those Virus Warnings from paranoid people at work and relatives and I always find the evidence that they are hoaxes. I should have known better. It is difficult not to believe in the sensationalism of things sometimes.

Post by **Xouqoa** » December 11, 2002, 1:11 pm

I was going to say... nobody can be that stupid...

right?

Neost · Post by **Neost** » December 11, 2002, 5:57 pm

I only recognized them because I did some reading awhile back on outrageous awards from some lawsuits.

There are a couple of legitimate legal sites that still present these same cases as proof out outrageous awards.

Don't feel bad. Some of the sites I've seen those posted on are supposedly "legal watchdog" groups that should know better. One site even claimed to have researched those cases themselves until someone pointed out that you could see the exact same list on a dozen sites, including swopes.com.

Drustwyn · Post by **Drustwyn** » December 11, 2002, 6:59 pm

Incidentally
http://www.snopes.com/photos/bushbook.htm

Ceredwin · Post by **Ceredwin** » December 11, 2002, 10:45 pm

I am saddened to hear that these are not true cases and will immediately contact the ACLU and find out why similar lawsuits have failed to be won.