STELLA AWARDS...

[pepper 34]

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 s ued the McDonald's in New

Mexico where she purchased the 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 scratcher handy. These are also the people that vote in

this country!

Here are the Stella's for the past year:

7TH 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.

6TH 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.

Go ahead, grab your head scratcher.

5TH 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 on a case of Pepsi and a large bag of dry

dog food, he sued the homeowner's insurance company claiming undue

mental an guish. 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...

4TH 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 do g with a pellet gun.

Grrrrr ... Scratch, scratch.

3RD PLACE:

Third place goes to 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.

What ever happened to people being responsible for their own actions?

< BR>Scratch, scratch, scratch. Hang in there; there are only two moreStellas to go...

2ND 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. Eve n 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.

1ST PLACE : (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, having driven onto

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.

Are we, as a society, getting more stupid...or what?

[*JG* 2]

After reading 301 useless facts today, I didn't think the day could be any stranger. You just proved me wrong.

Too funny!

[Krikit 1,166]

Wow. Haven't heard this urban legend in a few years. Guess it's been around the world and back.... a few times.

Personally, I think naming a woman "Merv" is what gave it away for me.

[pepper 34]

dont know about merv but the stella awards is real...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stella_Award

[Krikit 1,166]

dont know about merv but the stella awards is real...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stella_Award

From your link:

There are also a number of false Stella Awards circulating on the Internet.^[2][3]

[amerasianlove 0]

W O W!! Edited June 25, 2008 by God's*GiRL

[Savanphil 3]

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 onto

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.

[Krikit 1,166]

Would you guys stop? It's a HOAX!