don't get any ideas but...
My cousin and best friend Brianna e-mailed me this
Only in the USA with American Lawyers:
>It's time once again to review the winners of the Annual "Stella Awards."
>
>The Stellas are named after 81 year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled 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.
>
>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 run away 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 drivers
>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.
>
Only in the USA with American Lawyers:
>It's time once again to review the winners of the Annual "Stella Awards."
>
>The Stellas are named after 81 year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled 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.
>
>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 run away 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 drivers
>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.
>