The Stella Awards

 

The "Stella" awards rank up there with the Darwin awards. Except, people

end up paying for these jerks...

 

Stella Liebeck is the 81 year old lady who spilled coffee on herself and

sued McDonalds. This case inspired an annual award - The "Stella" Award

- for the most frivolous lawsuit in the U.S.

 

The following are this year's candidates:

 

1. January 2000:

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 bastard was

Ms.Robertson's son.

 

2. June 1998:

A 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.

 

3. October 1998:

A 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.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 half a million dollars.

 

4. October 1999:

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 it's owner's

fenced-in 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. May 2000:

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. The beverage was on the floor because Ms. Carson threw it at her

boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument.

 

6. December 1997:

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.

 

 

And the winner is:

 

Mr. Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City. In November 2000 Mr. Grazinski

purchased a brand new 32 foot Winnebago motor home. On his first trip

home, having joined 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 Winnie left the freeway, crashed and

overturned. Mr.Grazinski sued Winnebago for not advising him in the

handbook that he couldn't actually do this. He was awarded $1,750,000

plus a new Winnie.

 

(Winniebago actually changed their handbooks on the basis of this court

case, just in case there are any other complete morons buying their

vehicles)