*SEVENTH 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.
Start scratching!
* 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.
Scratch some more...
* 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 because
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. Keep scratching.
There are more...
Double hand scratching after this one...
*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.
Pick a new spot to scratch, you're getting a bald
spot...
* 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. What ever happened to people being
responsible for their own actions?
Only two more so ease up on the scratching...
*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 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 are
more members of Congress serving on juries these days?
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