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Annual Stella Awards
Once again, it's time to review the winners of the Annual Stella Awards.
The Stella's are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled coffee
on herself and successfully sued McDonalds. That case inspired the Stella
Awards for the most frivolous successful lawsuits in the United States.
6th place
19-year-old Carl Truman of Los Angeles, California, won $74,000 & medical
expenses when his neighbor ran over his hand with a Honda Accord. Mr.
Truman apparently did not notice there was someone at the wheel of the car
when he was trying to steal the hubcaps.
5th place
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 could
not reenter the house because the door connecting the house and garage
locked when he pulled it shut. The family were on vacation and Mr. Dickson
found himself locked in the garage for 8 days. He subsisted on a case of
Pepsi he found and a large bag of dry dog food. He sued the house owners
insurance claiming the situation caused him undue mental anguish. The jury
agreed to the tune of $500,000.
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 dog. The Beagle was on a chain in its owner's fenced yard. The award
was less than sought because the jury felt the dog might have been a little
provoked at the time, as Mr. Williams who had climbed over the fence into
the yard, 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, sued the owner of a night club in a
neighboring city when she fell from the bathroom window to the floor and
knocked out two of her front teeth. This occurred whilst Ms. Walton was
trying to crawl through the window in the ladies room to avoid paying the
$3.50 cover charge. She was awarded $12,000 & dental expenses.
1st place
This year's runaway winner was Mr. Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma. Mr. Grazinski purchased a brand new Winnebago Motor Home. On his
trip home from an OU football game, having driven onto 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 RV left
the freeway, crashed & then overturned. Mr. Grazinski sued Winnebago for
not advising him, by reading the owner's manual, that he actually could not
do this. The jury awarded him $1,750,000 plus a new Winnebago Motor Home.
The company actually changed their manuals on the basis of this suit just
in case there were any other complete morons buying their recreation
vehicles.