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<DIV>It's time, once again, to consider the candidates for the annual
Stella<BR>Awards.<BR>The Stella's are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who
spilled coffee<BR>on<BR>herself and successfully sued McDonald's. That
case inspired the Stella<BR>Awards<BR>for the most frivolous successful
lawsuits ONLY in the United States. The<BR>following are this year's
candidates:<BR><BR>1. Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas, was awarded $780,000
by a jury of<BR>her<BR>peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler
who was running<BR>inside a<BR>furniture store. The owners of the store were
understandably surprised at<BR>the<BR>verdict, considering the misbehaving
little toddler was Ms. Robertson's<BR>son.<BR>2. A 19-year-old, Carl Truman of
Los Angeles, won $74,000 and medical<BR>expenses<BR>when his neighbor ran over
his hand with a Honda Accord. Mr. Truman<BR>apparently<BR>didn't notice there
was someone at the wheel of the car when he was<BR>trying to<BR>steal his
neighbor's hub caps.<BR>3. Terrence Dickson of Bristol, Pennsylvania, was
leaving a house he had<BR>just<BR>finished robbing by way of the garage. He was
not able to get the garage<BR>door<BR>to go up since the automatic door
opener was malfunctioning. He couldn't<BR>re-enter the house because the door
connecting the house and garage<BR>locked when<BR>he pulled it shut. The
family was on vacation, and Mr. Dickson found<BR>himself<BR>locked in the
garage for eight days. He subsisted on a case of Pepsi he<BR>found,<BR>and
a large bag of dry dog food. He sued the homeowner's insurance<BR>claiming
the<BR>situation caused him undue mental anguish. The jury agreed to the
tune of<BR>$500,000.<BR>4. Jerry Williams of Little Rock, Arkansas, was awarded
$14,500 and<BR>medical<BR>expenses after being bitten on the buttocks by his
next door neighbor's<BR>beagle.<BR>The beagle was on a chain in its
owner's fenced yard.The award was less<BR>than<BR>sought because the jury
felt the dog might have been just a little<BR>provoked at<BR>the time by Mr.
Williams who was shooting it repeatedly with a pellet gun.<BR>5. A Philadelphia
restaurant was ordered to pay Amber Carson of Lancaster,<BR>Pennsylvania,
$113,500 after she slipped on a soft drink and broke
her<BR>coccyx<BR>(tailbone). The beverage was on the floor because Ms. Carson
had thrown it<BR>at<BR>her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an
argument.<BR>6. Kara Walton of Claymont, Delaware, successfully sued the owner
of a <BR>night<BR>club in a neighboring city when she fell from the bathroom
window to the<BR>floor<BR>and knocked out her two front teeth.This occurred
while Ms. Walton was<BR>trying to<BR>sneak through the window in the ladies room
to avoid paying the $3.50<BR>cover<BR>charge. She was awarded $12,000 and
dental expenses.<BR>7. This year's favorite could easily be Mr. Merv
Grazinski of Oklahoma <BR>City,<BR>Oklahoma. Mr. Grazinski purchased a brand new
32-foot Winnebagomotor home.<BR>On<BR>his first trip home, having driven onto
the freeway, he set the cruise<BR>control<BR>at 70 mph and calmly left the
drivers seat to go into the back and make<BR>himself<BR>a cup of coffee. Not
surprisingly, the R.V. left the freeway, crashed and<BR>overturned. Mr.
Grazinski suedWinnebago for not advising him in the<BR>owner's<BR>manual that he
couldn't actually do this. The jury awarded him $1,750,000<BR>plus a<BR>new
motor home. The company actually changed their manuals on the basis
of<BR>this<BR>suit, just in case there were any other complete morons buying
their<BR>recreation<BR>vehicles.</DIV>
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