Time once again to announce 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 McDonald's (in NM). That

 case inspired the Stella Awards for the most frivolous, ridiculous,

 successful lawsuits in the United States.

 Here are this year's winners:

 5th Place (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 (tie):

 19-year-old Carl Truman of Los Angeles won $74,000 and medical expenses < BR>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 (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 vacation, 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 f ood.

 He sued the homeowner's insurance claiming the situation caused him

 undue mental anguish. The jury agreed, to the tune of $500,000. In my

 opinion this is so outrageous that it should have been 2nd Place !

 4th Place :

 Jerry Wi lliams 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 might 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 dur ing an argument.

 2ndPlace:

 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 w hile

 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 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 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.

I don't know rather to laugh or be mad.....

1st Place :

This year's runaway winner was Mrs. Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City,

Oklahoma. Mrs. Grazinski purchased a brand 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 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.

Must have been a OSU fan... ;D

Those are definately funny being on the outside, but if I was the one who had to fork out thousands of $$$ for some moron eating my dog food and drinking my pepsi.... that kind of crap gets me really fired up.  I really want to know why the jury would award a moron like this money for being a complete idiot!!!!

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

If you want to read about some real atrocities, and learn what you can do about it, check this out.

http://www.instituteforlegalreform.com/

Ronnie