Large Scale Central

Stella Awards

General Discussion
#1

Off topic but you cant make this stuff up. I got the following in an e-mail sent to me. Got to love it.

Stella Awards
It’s time again for the annual “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 in New Mexico, where she purchased coffee. You remember, she took the lid off the coffee and put it between her knees while she was driving. Who would ever think one could get burned doing that, right? That’s right; these are awards for the most outlandish lawsuits and verdicts in the U.S. You know, the kinds of cases that make you scratch your head. So keep your head scratcher handy.

Here are the Stellas for the past year:

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 openermalfunctioned 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.

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.

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 Oklaho m a
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?

#2

Really what can someone say after reading that other then OMG for real?

#3
Geoff George said:
Really what can someone say after reading that other then OMG for real?
You almost want to say no way can that stuff happen but truth is, it really does. Why do you think they have warnings on everything? because someone and some point did it. I see it all the time at work.
#4

And we wonder why the cost of everything is so high, it’s because we are trying to pay for stupid!

#5

Two universal truethes …

First - You can’t fix stupid!

Second - By default those must be true. No person in their right mind could possibly think those up!

#6

I just . . . I . . . uh . . . well . . . er . . . umm . . .
And even with these kinds of people in the human race, it still exists, damn, now that is something.

Alright, let’s see what Googlinig Stella Awards finds, there have to be more of these stories. http://www.stellaawards.com/

Well, apparently, you can make this stuff up.

http://www.stellaawards.com/bogus.html

"Stella Awards" said:
StellaAwards.com pleading before the Court Of Public Opinion begs the court to take notice that Stories Not from StellaAwards.com

May it please the court: Many stories are going around the 'net saying they are “The Stella Awards”. Many of these stories are false, made-up, or (sometimes) true stories with false elements added to them. It makes no sense to use false examples of real problems when there are so many true examples that illustrate the actual problem.

The sad part: despite these stories having been debunked years ago, they not only still circulate, but many reporters, columnists and radio “personalities” still talk about them as if they were true, which says a lot about their professionalism. In many outrageous cases, these lazy “news” people will even link to this site as the source of these silly lies! What a ridiculous lack of standards they have!

The most-common e-mail example is the following, which the clerk has marked “Exhibit A”. We’ve received many, many copies of it over the last few years, and no doubt you have too. You’ll see what we mean by “bogus”.

"Stella Awards" said:
We believe the fabricated stories originated in 1994, as most versions mention Stella is "81 years old". She was 81 in 1994, and 91 when she died in 2004.

StellaAwards.com has found no evidence to support these stories, nor has the leading urban legend debunker, Snopes.com. The bottom line: after all these years, it’s completely ridiculous for individuals to be fooled by these cases, yet every year even “legitimate” newspapers run these very cases crying “Ain’t it awful?”, and sometimes they even attribute these old dumb jokes to us, which shows just how poorly they do when it comes to fact-checking.


snopes.com: Stella Awards
Apr 11, 2008 … A bouquet of outrageous lawsuits demonstrates the need for tort reform?
www.snopes.com/legal/lawsuits.asp - Similar

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_stella_awards.htm

"Urban Legends About.com" said:
Description: Email hoax Circulating since: 2001 Status: False Analysis: See below Comments: If item #7 sounds more than a bit familiar, that's because it's a well known urban legend dating back to the 1970s called "The Microwaved Pet." It never happened — nor, as far as I have been able to ascertain, did incidents #1 through #6. Indeed, all of the items read more like well-constructed jokes than descriptions of actual court cases.

The story of burn victim Stella Liebeck, after whom the “Stella Awards” were supposedly named, is true, though the facts of the case are misrepresented in the email. When the message first began circulating in 2001, no such awards existed, but they do now thanks to the efforts of newsletter publisher Randy Cassingham who launched StellaAwards.com in 2002 with the aim of “bringing some legitimacy to the debate over ridiculous lawsuits.”

The longevity of the bogus email can be accounted for partly by the humor quotient, partly by public outrage over what is perceived as a glut of frivolous lawsuits in recent years, and partly by the fact that the fabricated stories have been regularly repeated in the media both in the U.S. and abroad, lending a false impression of authenticity.

Update: The 2003 True Stella Awards were announced in January 2004. The stories aren’t nearly as hilarious as the above, but they have the distinct advantage of being true.

Update: 2004 True Stella Awards were announced in January 2005.

#7

I’m also wondering the validity of these as they do not follow the law as the facts are presented.

However the modern trend of comparative negligence verses the traditional view of contributory negligence may be the reason some of these could in fact be true. Of course the real facts are probably a lot different and not as funny as most of these “Stella” cases.

The “cruise control” case is more of a products liability case then standard tort negligence, which complicates the claims and defenses a bit. So Mrs. Grazinski’s attorney likely claimed under products liability; negligence for failure to warn. But again, doesn’t seem like we have all the facts and evidence here.

#8

As a Judge I would certainly not award damages in such cruise control case. The driver made a foundation-less assumption based on evidence which did not exist.

The owner’s manuals for the cars with cruise control which I have had speak solely of speed control; there is nothing present from which to draw conclusions that the device has any other function.

But then, I wager there is evidence all through human history that it is a common human behavior to draw conclusions, make assumptions, based on non-existent evidence.
{especially in politics, but that’s a whole 'nother editorial}

#9

Did everyone read the link: http://www.stellaawards.com/bogus.html

???

All the stories were fabricated.

Fun reading… but untrue…

Greg

#10

It’s shame none of this stuff is true because it sure is fun to read. So let’s add this one to the urban legend … A cardiologist suffered a heart attack trying to start an unresponsive lawn mower. He claimed he spent a half hour pulling on the starter cord and that the resulting physical exertion and emotional stress caused him to have the heart attack. He claimed that he was given insufficient training at the point of sale (Sears) to be able to properly start the machine. And therefore, Sears was responsible for his heart attack. He sued for medical expenses, loss of income, mental anguish, etc.

Walt

#11
Greg Elmassian said:
Did everyone read the link: http://www.stellaawards.com/bogus.html
No, I haven't yet; what am I missing?
#12

Two words: Urban Legends :wink: some good ones in there too! :lol:

#13

What are you missing? It may not be repairable, ha ha!

Never mind… take my comments as seriously as you did the original post.

Greg