2003 Stella Award Winners

cisco

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I know this is kind of old but I thought some of you might enjoy this.


Once, again, it's time to review the winners of the Annual Stella Awards. The Stella's are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled coffee on herself & successfully sued McDonalds. That case inspired the Stella Awards for the most frivolous successful lawsuits in the United States.

Unfortunately, the most recent lawsuit implicating McDonalds and the teens who allege that eating at McDonalds has made them fat, was filed after the
2003 award voting was closed. This suit will,undoubtedly, top the 2004 awards list.

THE WINNERS (we have a three way tie for 5th place):
5th place (tied): Kathleen Robertson 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 toddler was Ms. Robertson's son.

5th place (tied): 19-year-old Carl Truman of Los Angeles, California, won $74,000 & medical expenses when his neighbor ran over his hand with a Honda Accord. Mr Truman apparently did not notice there was someone at the wheel of the car when he was trying to steal the hubcaps.

5th place (tied): Terrence 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 could not re-enter the house because the door connecting the house and garage locked when he pulled it shut. The family was on vacation and Mr. Dickson found himself locked in the garage for 8 days. He subsisted on a case of Pepsi he found and a large bag of dry dog food. He sued the house owners insurance claiming the situation caused him undue mental anguish. The jury agreed to the tune of $500,000.

4th place: Jerry Williams of Little Rock, Arkansas, was awarded $14,500 & medical expenses after being bitten on the buttocks by his next door neighbor's Beagle dog. The Beagle was on a chain in its owner's fenced yard. The award was less than sought because the jury felt the dog might have been a little provoked at the time, as Mr. Williams, who had climbed over the fence into the yard, was shooting it repeatedly with a pellet gun.

3rd place: A Philadelphia restaurant was ordered to pay AmberCarson of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, $113,500, after she slipped on a soft drink and broke her coccyx (tailbone). The beverage was on the floor because Ms.Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument.

2nd place: Kara Walton of Claymont, Delaware, sued the owner of a nightclub in a neighboring city when she fell from the bathroom window to the floor and knocked out two of her front teeth. This occurred whilst Ms. Walton was trying to crawl through a window in the ladies room to avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge. She was awarded $12,000 & dental expenses.

And first place winner is: This year's runaway winner was Mr. Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Mr. Grazinski purchased a brand new Winnebago Motor home. On his trip home from an OU football game, having driven onto the freeway, he set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the drivers seat to go into the back & make himself a cup of coffee.

Not surprisingly, the RV left the freeway, crashed then overturned. Mr. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not advising him, by reading the owner's manual, that he actually could not do this. The jury awarded him $1,750,000 plus a new Winnebago Motor Home. (The company actually changed their manuals to alert against this act on the basis of this suit just in case there were any other complete morons buying their recreation vehicles!)
 

gardenweasel

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lawyers

lawyers

everywhere are laughing their asses off.....and rightfully so....

what a racket.,...

thanks,cisco....great stuff...
 

Eddie Haskell

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Naw PF, just at morons like cisco, gw and glf who buy this insurance company propoganda to further a popular anti-lawyer theme. I've countered so much of this garbage in the past from Dogs, Freeze and others out there with an agenda that I don't even bother commenting anymore.

Threads like this one merely proves that this country is filled with gullible idiots who will buy as gospel any crap which supports whatever corporate america wants them to think. Hell how many people watched American Idol and further voted for Bush. Just proves how sadly stupid most people are.

Sheep and minions. Sad, but true.

Eddie
 

gardenweasel

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that`ll teach you to take the bait that our lawyer friend dangles in front of our worthless noses.....

i like it better when these cryptic responses remain questions for the ages.....and we peons are left to ponder......and ponder.....

we have no chance...

and o.j. plays golf.....and jayson williams will walk....and mark peterson will walk....and the scalded mcdonald`s coffee lady gets a windfall....and the class action lawsuit lawyers own pro ballclubs.....while some poor schmuck smokes his filterless marlboro`s through an esophegeal tube....while his $2500 dollar settlement check slowly but surely gathers the interest that will one day make him rich.....in the year 2097......

:nooo:
 

Eddie Haskell

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Oh yeah, PF, there is another group laughing there asses off. That group would be the insurance company executives who excell at collecting premiums, employing highly priced advertising agencies to spread mistruths thereby poisoning juries, blame lawyers for their misinvestments in the 90's and then failing to pay claims cause they know they will have imbeciles like Gardenweasel on the jury who base will base important decisions on soundbites.

Yeah, insurance executives find all of this very funny and profitable too.

Eddie
 

JT

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I blame the juries also in these type of cases. I mean is the lawyer supposed to do a awful job on purpose? Deride them all you want but when the time possibly comes when you are screwed by big corporations and/or government what other rescources can you use for justice? Writing a letter to the editor? No, Courts and Lawyers. Go get 'em Eddie! kurby
 

Penguinfan

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Edward, just to clarify, I am sure there is more to all the above than usually meets the eye and we hear what the media wants us to hear. In my opinion it's defense lawyers that give you a bad name and unfortunatly they have to do their job reguardless of the scumbag they represent and I am sure sombody oversees the job they do in cases they don't really want to defend.
 

Eddie Haskell

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Peng:

Its everyone. Are frivolous suits filed? Yes. Do frivolous claims suceed? Rarely. Are defenseless suits defended? Yes. Do meritorious claims lose? Yes (many more times than frivoulous claims succeed). Are some plaintiffs lawyers scumbags? Yes. Are some defense lawyers scumbags? Yes. Are all non-paying clients scumbags? Yes.

My beef with crap posted in this thread is how the exception is made out to be the rule and how certain special interest groups (insurance industry, medical associations, manufacturers associations, chambers of commerce, the "liberal" media) take these cases, twist the facts, and make soundbites out of them to support their respective causes and agendas.

As long as thinking individuals read these posts and acknowledge them for what they are, soundbites that have little if any relationship to the truth and facts, then fine, laugh away. My problem is that most people in this country are not thinking individuals and they take these jokes as the truth. Unfortuneately, they often end up on my juries.

Eddie
 

Chanman

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Doctors and Lawyers (Cats and Dogs)

Doctors and Lawyers (Cats and Dogs)

Doctor Proposes Not Treating Some Lawyers
By TARA BURGHART Associated Press Writer
CHICAGO -- A doctor's proposal asking the American Medical Association to endorse refusing care to attorneys involved in medical malpractice cases drew an angry response from colleagues Sunday at the annual meeting of the nation's largest physicians group...

Of course, that's not going to work, but it's still funny. A good friend of mine is an orthopedic surgeon and his malpractice is enormous...it's about 1/2 of his after-tax income.
 

Nosigar

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Eddie Haskell said:
I've countered so much of this garbage in the past from Dogs, Freeze and others out there with an agenda that I don't even bother commenting anymore.


Eddie

Agenda?. :confused:

Pot calling the kettle black? I thought commies were usually the ones with the agenda, or so I have experienced. :shrug:

BTW, I doubt many of the above awards being true.
 

cisco

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Well, after almost four years I guess it had to happen sometime that someone would jump into one of my threads and start bashing me.:)
 
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Eddie Haskell

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You know something clown, when you post misstatements, lies and other assorted crap you should expect someone to jump in your thread and not attack you, but merely point out that you are dead ass wrong. You moron.

Eddie
 

ctownguy

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oh, eddie the clown's feathers got ruffled, shouldn't be so defensive unless you are one of the scumbag lawyers you mention above:eek:
 
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