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===
> Subject: STELLA AWARDS
>
> Enjoy the stupidity...
>
> The "Stella" awards rank up there with the Darwin awards. In 1994, a
> New
> Mexico jury awarded $ 2.9 million U.S. in damages to 81-year-old
> Stella
> Liebeck who suffered third-degree burns to her legs, groin and
> buttocks
> after spilling a cup of McDonald's coffee on herself. This case
> inspired an
> annual award - The "Stella" Award - for the most frivolous lawsuit in
> the
> U.S.
>
> The ones listed below are clear candidates. All these cases are
> verging on
> the outright ridiculous and yet (in the good old USA) with the right
> attorney you could win anything!
>
> 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.
>
> June 1998: A 19 year old Carl Truman of Los Angeles won $74,000 and
> medical
> expenses when his neighbour 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 neighbour's hubcaps.
>
> 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.
>
> 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
> neighbour'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.
>
> 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.
>
> December 1997: Kara Walton of Claymont, Delaware, successfully sued
> the
> owner of a night club in a neighbouring 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 back of this court
> case, just in case there are any other complete morons buying their
> vehicles.)
>


RGDS

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