Wow...people are stupid...
I found these while looking up part of my homework for my Government class:
2003 Stella Award Candidates
[Candidates for the annual "Stella Awards" are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled coffee on herself and successfully sued McDonalds. That case inspired the Stella Awards for the most frivolous successful lawsuits in the United States. The following are this year's 7 Stella Award Winners candidates…]
1. 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 little toddler was Ms. Robertson's son…
2. A 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 hub caps…
3. 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 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, and 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 $500,000…
4. Jerry Williams 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 its owner's fenced 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. Williams who was shooting it repeatedly with a pellet gun…
5. 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 had thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument…
6. Kara Walton of Claymont, Delaware, successfully sued the owner of a night club in a neighboring city when 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 out without paying her check, awarded $12,000 and dental expenses…
7. Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma purchased a brand new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On his first trip home, having driven onto the freeway, he set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the drivers seat to go into the back and make himself a cup of coffee. Not surprisingly, the R.V. left the road. The owner's manual did not say that he couldn't actually do this. The jury awarded him $1,750,000 plus a new motor home. The company actually changed their manuals on the basis of this suit, just in case there were any other complete morons buying their recreation vehicles…
posted by Matt @ 7:19 PM
8 Comments:
Well I think this will help me come up with someone to get some money, thanks matt.
I meant someway.
haha yeah if this is the only way you can get money then you are a SAD person :-P
It sure takes all kinds, doesn't it...and who waere the people on those juries, and even more who were those judges.......
No, it doesn't take all kinds. People on those juries should be frickin' sued or something. Hey, there's an idea. Let's all sue them, class action, because we are now afraid daily to live our lives for fear of being stupidly sued and ending up with those moron's on juries. I'm definitely fearful of juries full of moron's now. How much do you think I can get?
I dont know but you could definitely go with mental anguish on that note.
I hate to always be the turd in the punchbowl but those aren't true.
They've been floating around the internet for ages. Here's a link to snopes debunking them: http://www.snopes.com/legal/lawsuits.asp
That's not to say that there aren't frivolous cases but usually they don't get very far. I think there is a place for responsible tort reform but be very wary of people (Republican politicians) who are so rabidly for tort reform and against trial lawyers.
Ever wonder why you don't hear them bad mouthing corporate lawyers? Trial lawyers are essentially the lawyers who bring cases against negligent corporations on behalf of regular people like us, that's why.
Additionally, here's the true story (that you never hear) behind the money awarded to Stella...
Stella Liebeck of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was in the passenger seat of her grandson's car when she was severely burned by McDonalds' coffee in February 1992. Liebeck, 79 at the time, ordered coffee that was served in a styrofoam cup at the drivethrough window of a local McDonalds.
After receiving the order, the grandson pulled his car forward and stopped momentarily so that Liebeck could add cream and sugar to her coffee. (Critics of civil justice, who have pounced on this case, often charge that Liebeck was driving the car or that the vehicle was in motion when she spilled the coffee; neither is true.) Liebeck placed the cup between her knees and attempted to remove the plastic lid from the cup. As she removed the lid, the entire contents of the cup spilled into her lap.
The sweatpants Liebeck was wearing absorbed the coffee and held it next to her skin. A vascular surgeon determined that Liebeck suffered full thickness burns (or third-degree burns) over 6 percent of her body, including her inner thighs, perineum, buttocks, and genital and groin areas. She was hospitalized for eight days, during which time she underwent skin grafting. Liebeck, who also underwent debridement treatments, sought to settle her claim for $20,000, but McDonalds refused.
During discovery, McDonalds produced documents showing more than 700 claims by people burned by its coffee between 1982 and 1992. Some claims involved third-degree burns substantially similar to Liebecks. This history documented McDonalds' knowledge about the extent and nature of this hazard.
Liebeck and her lawyers sought a $20,000 settlement, but McDonald's refused. Instead, The jury awarded Liebeck $200,000 in compensatory damages. This amount was reduced to $160,000 because the jury found Liebeck 20 percent at fault in the spill. The jury also awarded Liebeck $2.7 million in punitive damages, which equals about two days of McDonalds' coffee sales.
The trial court subsequently reduced the punitive award to $480,000 -- or three times compensatory damages -- even though the judge called McDonalds' conduct reckless, callous and willful.
No one will ever know the final ending to this case.
The parties eventually entered into a secret settlement which has never been revealed to the public, despite the fact that this was a public case, litigated in public and subjected to extensive media reporting.
See, that's where I just get pissed. McDonalds had NO fault in that case, or any other where hot coffee burned someone. Coffee is hot, it's supposed to be hot. If you make coffee at home it's hot. If you spill something on yourself it's not their fault. If I buy a chainsaw and then turn it on and fall on it who's fault would that be? Mine. There is no story short of an employee actually dumping a pot of coffee into someones lap that could lead me to believe that McDonalds was responsible for anything in that case. If you walk out of a store and slip on ice it's not their fault. If you get to a store and the ground is icy, be careful, or shop somewhere else. I'm tired of hearing about businesses being sued for any number of things that in my opinion are just stupid. If I walk in a store and the display collapses on me then, sure, that's an issue that was their fault. But come on, it has gotten really bad when someone can sue a cigarette company and get an award when they didn't start smoking till after the warnings went on the packs. I've had it with that crap. My shopping bills, insurance bills, all of my bills would be much lower if you couldn't just run around suing people left and right. Hell, my doctor had to quit her practice because she couldn't afford insurance. Enough already with the lawsuits.
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