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 scratcher handy.

 

Here are the Stellas for the year 2013:

 

SEVENTH PLACE
 

Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas was awarded $8000 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.

 

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.

 

FIFTH PLACE
 

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 cause 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.

 

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.

 

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...

 

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 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 new 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.
 

Can't wait for 2014.

Wow, just wow

http://www.snopes.com/legal/lawsuits.asp

 

Seems to be untrue

Only you would investigate a joke email a friend sent me. jeez.

I just thought it was funny.

Only you would investigate a joke email a friend sent me. jeez.

I just thought it was funny.

 

 

Haha, TBH it wasn't me.  I copied and pasted this on my facebook, and then a friend linked me to the site saying it was fake...and figured I'd post here.  But trust me, there is plenty of people out there who sue places for the dumbest shit

OMG! I believed it too. I bet your facebook friend is the guy who fact checked Braveheart and ruined it for everyone.

OMG! I believed it too. I bet your facebook friend is the guy who fact checked Braveheart and ruined it for everyone.

 

 

When you posted it I assumed it was true, as I've heard of plenty of people trying to sue people/companies over the stupiest things so it didn't really surprise me, but made me laugh like it did for you.  Yea...i got some friends that fact check anything people post lol

Interesting. My Law professor actually used some of these as examples in class... I thought he was talking from experience

Interesting. My Law professor actually used some of these as examples in class... I thought he was talking from experience

That is what happens when you are not at UF. 

It's hard to imagine verdicts like these. 

Glad to see some of these are actually false, lol

funny alot of tese are females aswell >_>

funny alot of tese are females aswell >_>

Males tend to make up these stories as power trips. Not surprising their own prejudices would slip in.

 

While I view these sorts of stories skeptically, a common law system tends to be as strong as the stupidest jury and judge. Many judges in Texas, especially in rural counties, don't even have a legal background and don't care about being overturned. Makes me glad I'm in a big city, where judges tend to at least have a law degree. It can be sad when the least qualified person in the court is the guy running the show.

 

Still better than civil law, since civil law guarantees a dumb outcome. Politicians tend to be lawyers who failed their ethics classes.

Hehe I chuckled.  Thanks for posting!