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 restaurant in New Mexico where she purchased the coffee. So, in
the spirit of immature litigiousness, here are the awards for the most
outlandish lawsuits and verdicts that occurred in the US during 2005:

5th Place (3-Way tie)
Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas: 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 Mrs. Robertson's son.

Carl Truman (19) of Los Angeles, California: Awarded $74,000 plus
medical expenses when his neighbor ran over his hand with his Honda Accord.
Mr. Truman apparently didn't notice his neighbor was at the wheel of the car
while he was attempting to steal his hubcaps.

Terrence Dickson or Bristol, Pennsylvania: While in the process of
leaving a home he had just burglarized through the garage, Mr. Dickson
became locked in when the automatic garage door opener failed to open, and
the door leading into the house locked upon closing. He was forced to wait
in the garage for a period of 8 days, surviving on nothing but a case of
Pepsi and a large bag of dry dog food. Upon release, he sued the homeowner's
insurance company, claiming undue mental anguish for his "captivity". The
jury awarded Mr. Dickson $500,000 for his trouble.

  4th Place
Jerry Williams of Little Rock, Arkansas: Awarded $14,500 plus medical
expenses after being bitten on the butt buy his next-door neighbor's
beagle...even though the beagle was on a chain, in his owner's front yard.
Mr. Williams did not, however, receive the full amount of his asking damages
as the jury decided the beagle may have been provoked, since Mr. Williams
had climbed over the fence and repeatedly shot the dog with a pellet gun.

3rd Place
Amber Carson of Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Awarded $113,500 to be paid by
the restaurant where she slipped on a spilled soft drink and fractured her
tailbone. The reason for the spilled soft drink was due to Ms. Carson
throwing it at her boyfriend prior to the fall, during an argument.

2nd Place
Kara Walton of Claymont, Delaware: While attempting to sneak into a
local nightclub through the women's restroom to avoid the club's $3.50 cover
charge, Ms. Walton fell onto the bathroom floor, and knocked out her two
front teeth. A jury decided to award her $12,000 plus dental expenses to be
paid by the nightclub she was sneaking into.

1st Place
Merv Grazinski or Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: Mrs. Grazinski had recently
purchased a new 32-foot Winnebago motor home, and during the trip home from
an OU football game, she decided that she was hungry. After arriving onto
the highway, she expertly set the vehicle's cruise control to 70 MPH, calmly
left the driver's seat, and headed to the back of the Winnebago to make
herself a sandwich. Not surprisingly, the motor home left the freeway,
crashed, and overturned. Mrs. Grazinski sued the Winnebago corporation for
not stating in the owner's manual that cruise control was not the same as
"automatic pilot" and that she was not actually able to leave the driver's
seat while using it. The jury awarded her $1,750,000 PLUS a new motor home.
The Winnebago corporation has updated their driver's operation manuals, as a
result of this lawsuit