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> 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 the coffee
>
>
> That's right, these are awards for the most outlandish lawsuits and
> verdicts that happened in the U.S. during 2005. You know, the kinds of
> cases that make you scratch your head. So keep your head scratchers
> handy. Here are the Stellas for the past year:
>
>
> To kick things off the right way, there was a three-way tie for 5th
> 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 Ms.
> Robertson's son.
>
>
> Also in 5th place is Carl Truman, 19, of Los Angeles, California - you
> knew California had to be in the list somewhere, right? - who 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. Go ahead,
> grab your head scratchers.
>
>
> The last of the 5th Place winners was 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 subsist for eight -
> count 'em, 8! - days 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.
>
>
> Jerry Williams, of Little Rock, Arkansas, garnered 4th Place in the
> Stellas 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 it's 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.
> Grrrrr ... scratch, scratch.
>
>
> Third Place went to Amber Carson of Lancaster, Pennsylva nia, because a
> jury ordered a Philadelphia restaurant to pay her $113,500 after she
> slipped on soft drink and broke her tailbone (coccyx). The reason the
> soft drink was on the floor: Ms. Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30
> seconds earlier during an argument. What ever happened to people being
> responsible for their own actions? Scratch, scratch, scratch
>
> Hang in there, there are only two more Stellas to go.
>
>
> 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.
>
>
> Finally, (may I have a fanfare played on 50 kazoos please) 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, no less - 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.
>
> Don't look so incredulous. Remember, we're talking about Oklahoma here.
>
> 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 - you are sitting down, right? - $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 buy a motor home.
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