The #Stella Awards

 · 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, 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.

 

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 a 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.