The Stella Award ~OT~

[Guest guest]

My daughter sent me this. And for some reason I thought it was so funny!

The main reason I thought it " funny " was because we own our business.

And we had a man who was doing some fiberglass work on our commercial

fishing boats about 2 1/2 years ago. Well, he arrived and we commented

how " bad " he looked and if he wasn't feeling well to go home. He assured

us he did not feel " bad " due to illness, he explained he stayed out at

" The cafe " (which is the Cafe Risque a nude bar) all night trying to

" score " , and he didn't get in until after 4 a.m. Well... he then

proceeded to get onto our boat...you guessed it... he slipped and fell.

We tried to get him to go to the doctor he refused saying, " only thing

hurt is my pride " . So that was that. He continued working for almost a

month until he finished. Well... in the mean time he had been told (a

year before) he needed a hernia operation. Well... you guessed it... he

got to thinking... and about 5 months AFTER he fell on our boat, he has

a Lawyer send us papers... we are getting SUED! Ha! So far, in and out

of court... he hasn't gotten nowhere ... YET... Seems he couldn't get

the DATE of the FALL right! He was a month off! And other things that

the Court would not accept. But if you read these things, it does make

me wonder how the rusults will come out for us!!!

Susie

*Could this really be true? I would like to think most Americans are

smarter

than this?

The Stella Award

The " Stella Awards rank up there with the Darwin awards. Stella Liebeck

is

the 81 year old lady who spilled coffee on herself and sued Mcs.

This

case inspired an annual award - The " Stella " Award for the most

frivolous

lawsuits in the U.S. The following are this year's candidates:

1. January 2000 - Kathleen on of Austin Texas was awarded

$780,000

(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

child was Ms. on's son.

2. June 1998 - 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.

3. October 1998 - Terrance 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. 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 half a million

dollars.

4. October 1999 - Jerry 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 it's owner's

fenced in 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.

who was shooting it repeatedly with a pellet gun.

5. May 2000 - 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. The beverage was on the floor because Ms. Carson threw it

at

her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument.

6. December 1997 - Kara Walton of Claymont, Delaware successfully sued

the

owner of a night club in a neighboring city where 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.

7. And the winner is: Mr. Merve Grazinski of Oklahoma City. In

November

2000 Mr. Grazinski purchased a brand new 32 foot Winnebago motor home.

On

his first trip home, having joined the freeway, he set the cruise

control at 70 mph and calmly left the driver's seat to go into the back

and make himself a cup of coffee. Not surprisingly, the Winnie left the

freeway, crashed and overturned. Mr. Grazinski sued the Winnebago for

not advising him in the handbook that he couldn't actually do this. He

was awarded $1,750,000 plus a new Winnie.

(Winniebago actually changed their handbooks on the back of this court

case, just in case there are any other complete morons buying the

vehicles.)