FrumCA

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 scratch-er handy.

Here are the Stellas for this year:

· 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, 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 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.

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

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

No words other than freakin' unbelievable...

NMGal Loc: NE NM

What Longshadow said.

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

I believe most of these are just urban myths. They're still funny, though. I've heard the motor home one for years.

FrumCA

You are right. They are fabricated stories but still pretty funny.

Klickitatdave Loc: Seattle Washington

Stella Liebeck certainly has been given a bad rap based on spurious information. She was not driving at the time of the incident. She was a passenger in the car and had only put the coffee cup between her knees in order to add cream and sugar. The car was not moving. It was parked in the McDonald's parking lot. The McDonald’s operations manual at that time required the franchise to serve its coffee at a temperature of 180 to 190 degrees Fahrenheit which is scalding and can result in 3rd-degree burns in 3 to 7 seconds. She was severely burned and had to undergo skin grafts as a result of her injury. McDonald's knew about the risk of burns due to the temperature of the coffee 10 years before this incident and they had chosen not to deal with it. Stella had offered to settle the lawsuit for $20,000, an amount that would cover the cost of her medical treatment and loss of income while she was in treatment. McDonald's offered her $800 and not a penny more. So, maybe give Stella a break.

cbabcock

Thanks for the real story. That lawsuit has been used to bash Stella, and lawyers, for years.

bobmcculloch Loc: NYC, NY

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Nope, no break, Sorry. I could never sue for what happened.
Would have been my own darn fault.
But then I'd never put a <easily squishable> paper cup of anything between my legs, plastic cup maybe.

Similar thing for tripping and falling on a "raised" sidewalk slab... My own fault for not watching where I'm going!

Geeze.....

Caribou Loc: St. Louis, MO

Thanks for the clarification on this story. I think it shows how disinformation can affect our perception of things. However, large corporations are much better off if they can avoid jury trials. People award outlandish amounts of money on the basis of sometimes dubious "facts". Lawyers know how to pick those kinds of jurors from what is likely a pretty questionable jury pool in the first place.

maxlieberman Loc: 19027

I don't believe any of this. I'd like to see proof that any of these stories are true.

Toby

Justifiably so

avflinsch Loc: Hamilton, New Jersey

More importantly McDonalds had been warned multiple times about the danger and chosen to ignore it.

marvkaye

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

What happened to "I gotta be careful with the coffee, it's hot."

I suppose people just don't think or reason anymore.......

Just like all the warnings on microwave foods, "Contents may be HOT."
Ya think?????