WHAT???

[Guest guest]

I don't actually KNOW if these are true or not, but they're worth repeating just for the incredulity of them. Sharon Stella AwardsIt's time again for the annual 'Stella Awards'! For those unfamiliar with these awards, they arenamed after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who spilledhot coffee on herself and successfully sued theMc's in New Mexico where she purchased thecoffee. You remember, she took the lid off thecoffee and put it between her knees while she wasdriving. Who would ever think one could get burneddoing that, right? That's right; these are awardsfor the most outlandish lawsuits and verdicts in theU.S. You know, the kinds of cases that make youscratch your head. So keep your head scratcherhandy.Here are the Stella's for the past year:7TH PLACE:Kathleen on of Austin, Texas was awarded$80,000 by a jury of her peers after breaking herankle tripping over a toddler who was running insidea furniture store. The store owners wereunderstandably surprised by the verdict, consideringthe running toddler was her own son.6TH PLACE:Carl Truman, 19, of Los Angeles, California won$74,000 plus medical expenses when his neighbor ranover his hand with a Honda Accord. Truman apparentlydidn't notice there was someone at the wheel of thecar when he was trying to steal his neighbor'shubcaps.Go ahead, grab your head scratcher.5TH PLACE:Terrence Dickson, of Bristol, Pennsylvania, whowas leaving a house he had just burglarized by wayof the garage. Unfortunately for Dickson, theautomatic garage door opener malfunctioned and hecould not get the garage door to open. Worse, hecouldn't re-enter the house because the doorconnecting the garage to the house locked whenDickson pulled it shut Forced to sit for eight,count 'em, EIGHT, days on a case of Pepsi and alarge bag of dry dog food, he sued the homeowner'sinsurance company claiming undue mental Anguish.Amazingly, the jury said the insurance company mustpay Dickson $500,000 for his anguish. We should allhave this kind of anguish.Keep scratching. There are more...4TH PLACE:Jerry , of Little Rock , Arkansas ,garnered 4th Place in the Stella's when he wasawarded $14,500 plus medical expenses after beingbitten on the butt by his next door neighbor'sbeagle - even though the beagle was on a chain inits owner's fenced yard. did not get asmuch as he asked for because the jury believed thebeagle might have been provoked at the time of thebutt bite because had climbed over thefence into the yard and repeatedly shot the dog witha pellet gun.Grrrrr ... Scratch, scratch.3RD PLACE:Amber Carson of Lancaster, Pennsylvania becausea jury ordered a Philadelphia restaurant to pay her$113,500 after she slipped on a spilled soft drinkand broke her tailbone. The reason the soft drinkwas on the floor: Ms. Carson had thrown it at herboyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument.What ever happened to people being responsible fortheir own actions?Scratch, scratch, scratch. Hang in there; thereare only two more Stella's to go...2ND PLACE:Kara Walton, of Claymont, Delaware sued theowner of a night club in a nearby city because shefell from the bathroom window to the floor, knockingout her two front teeth. Even though Ms. Walton wastrying to sneak through the ladies room window toavoid paying the $3.50 cover charge, the jury saidthe night club had to pay her $12,000... oh, yeah,plus dental expenses. Go figure.1ST PLACE: (May I have a fanfare played on 50kazoos please)This year's runaway First Place Stella Awardwinner was Mrs. Merv Grazinski, of Oklahoma City,Oklahoma, who purchased a new 32-foot Winnebagomotor home. On her first trip home, from an OUfootball game, having driven on to the freeway, sheset the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left thedriver's seat to go to the back of the Winnebago tomake herself a sandwich. Not surprisingly, the motorhome left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Alsonot surprisingly, Mrs. Grazinski sued Winnebago fornot putting in the owner's manual that she couldn'tactually leave the driver's seat while the cruisecontrol was set. The Oklahoma jury awarded her, areyou sitting down, $1,750,000 PLUS a new motor home.Winnebago actually changed their manuals as a resultof this suit, just incase Mrs. Grazinski has anyrelatives who might also buy a motor home. Sharon in NW WashingtonAll I have seen teaches me to trust in the Creator for all that I have not seen. Ralph Waldo Emerson