"Other" "Stuff" 001

2005 Stella Awards

Time once again to review the winners of the Annual "Stella Awards".

The Stella Awards are named after 81 year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled hot coffee
on herself and successfully sued McDonals's (in USA)

That case inspired the Stella Awards for the most frivolous, ridiculous,
successful lawsuits in the United States.

Link to www.StellaAwards.com web site



Here are the 2005 winners (from 5th to 1st place)

5th Place (3 way tie):

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 owners of the store were understandably surprised at the verdict, considering the
misbehaving little toddler was Ms. Robertson's son.

5th Place (3 way tie):

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.

5th Place (3 way tie):

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 holidays, and 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 $500,000. This is so outrageous
that it probably should have been 2nd Place!

4th Place:

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 migbt have been JUST A LITTLE
provoked at the time by Mr Williams who had climbed over the fence into the yard and was
shooting it repeatedly with a pellet gun.

3rd Place:

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.

2nd Place:

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.

1st Place:

This year's runaway winner was Mrs Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Mrs Grazinski purchased a brand new 32-foot Winnebago (RV) motor home. On her
first trip home, having driven onto the freeway, she set the cruise control
at 70 mph and calmly left the driver's seat to go into the back & make herself a sandwich.

Not surprisingly, the RV left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Mrs Grazinski
sued Winnebago for not advising her in the owner's manual that she couldn't actually
do this. The jury awarded her $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 around.

Link to www.StellaAwards.com web site