Sort of funny
>> 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.
>
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
>
* 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. ..
>
* 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...
.
* 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
* 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.
>
*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.
>
* FIRST PLACE *
> This year's runaway First Place Stella Award winner was: Mrs. Merv
> Grazinski, of Oklahoma City , Oklahoma , who purchased a 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