[StBernard] This year's STELLA award winners

[Westley Annis]

Pure Fiction....http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/o/onlyinamerica.htm
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Editor's note:

For Real Stella Awards, visit this web site:
<http://www.stellaawards.com/>

Put together by Randy Cassingham, he posts Stella Award nominees to his web
site throughout year and then selects several for the annual awards.  Each
post is also sent out through email.  Because of time constraints, he has
been a little slow with them this year.

Even better is his This is True newsletter.  Published weekly, he highlights
news articles that have appeared recently and often gives a great one-liner
comment about it.  What's even more fun, is one of the subjects he
highlights decides to send an email complaining that they have been
highlighted.
<http://www.thisistrue.com>



	-------------- Original message from "Westley Annis"
<westley at da-parish.com>: -------------- 
	> ----------------------------------------------------- 
	> Time once again to review the winners of the Annual "Stella
Awards." The 
	> Stella Awards are named after 81 year-old Stella Liebeck who
spilled hot 
	> coffee on herself and successfully sued McDonald's (in NM). That
case 
	> inspired the Stella Awards for the most frivolous, ridiculous,
successful 
	> lawsuits in the United States . 
	> 
	> Here are this year's winners: 
	> 5th Place (tie): 
	> 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 owners of the store were
understandab ly 
	> surprised at the verdict, considering the misbehaving little
toddler was Ms. 
	> Robertson's son . 
	> 
	> 5th Place (tie): 
	> 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 . 
	> 
	> 5th Place (tie): 
	> 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 Pep si 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. In my
opinion this 
	> is so outrageous that it should have been 2nd Place ! 
	> 
	> 4th Place : 
	> 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 had climbed over the
fence into the 
	> yard and was shooting it repeatedly with a pellet gun. 
	> 
	> 3rd Place : 
	> A Philadelphia restaurant was ordered to pay Amber Carson of
Lancaster , 
	> Pennsylvania , $113,500. after she slipped on a soft drink and
broke her 
	> ; cocc yx (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 , 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 through the window in the ladies room to avoid
paying 
	> the $3.50 cover charge . She was awarded $12,000 and dental
expenses 
	> 
	> 1st Place : 
	> This year's runaway winner was Mrs. Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma
City , 
	> Oklahoma . Mrs. Grazinski purchased a brand new 32-foot Winnebago
motor 
	> home. On her first trip home, (from an OU football game), having
driven onto 
	> the freeway, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left
the 
	> driver's seat to go into the back & ma ke her self a sandwich. Not

	> surprisingly, the RV left the freeway, crashed and overturned.
Mrs.Grazinski 
	> sued Winnebago for not advising her in the owner's manual that she
couldn't 
	> actually do this. The jury awarded her $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 around.