2006 Stella Awards
Need extra cash? Just sue, whoever, whenever.... America's a free country after all!
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Time once again to review 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 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 food. 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 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. 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 during an argument.
2nd Place:
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 while 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 feel lazy, oh so lazy....
Saturday. 11.00 am. In my bed, laptop in hand, still amazed at the beauty of Wi-fi and how lazy this stuff allows you to be. At least, I now have time to update this blog.
I can't believe my holidays were already over a month ago, maybe I should take more! but when you have 20 days off a year, you kinda think it through before taking any of them (I know it's not that bad... but to the spoiled French side of me, it is!)
I had friends over from France last week, and we drove around a little and visited Malahide, Kilkenny (yeah, again), Cashel and Glendalough. I was wrecked as I didn't sleep too much, but I survived (hence me still being in bed at this time). It was great having them here, and very emotional as well. Ireland has this power over you to relax your nerves and let it all out.
Work is still work, although I've decided to work less hours daily cause I need to maintain a certain quality of life - even my manager told me so cause I would drive myself crazy on the long run! I'm getting used to the fact that I cant' get everything done, which is new to me. And I'm going to Nice at the end of the month for a sales meeting so that'll be entertaining enough. For now I'm getting frustrated at the French office because everybody is taking 3 to 4 week-holiday, and obviously everybody at the same time! So much for being available.
I'm getting worried about Elvis. He hasn't come back in a few weeks, I hope nothing's happened to him. I miss him lots although it's nice not to have cat hairs everywhere - I sometimes find them in the most incongruous places and wonder how they got there.
In the news as well, I've started learning German. I find it difficult to keep learning Chinese as well - I have time for one but not two languages! Thing is I love studying Chinese but I need to study German. It is a bit of a dilemna to me. But hopefully I'll get done with German pretty quickly. I already understand e-mail a bit, not that I can talk or write, but all I need for now is to understand it. It is incredibly similar to English, and although the grammar is a pain in the arse, I still think French is a more difficult language. I know, I taught it and was amazed at how unlogical the language is. Ils sont fous ces Gaulois....
