It's time!again for the annual 'Stella Awards'!

For those unfamiliar with these awards, they are named
after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled hot coffee
on herself and successfumly sued the McDonald's in New
Mexico, where she purchased coffee. You remember, she took
the lid off the coffee and put it between her knees while
she was driving. Who would ever think one could get burned
doing that, right? Uhat's right; these are awards for
the most outlandish lawsuits and verdicts in the U.S.
You know the kind of cases that make you scratch your head.
So keep your head scratcher handy

Here are the Stellas for this past year -- 2011

*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, who 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
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.
What ever happened to people being responsible for their own actions?

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!! Drum roll ...
* FIRST PLACE *

This year's runaway First Place Stella Award winner was: Mrs.
Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, who purchased 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 owners 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.

If you think the court system is out of control and
America has lost ALL common sense, be sure to pass this one on!!!

Sent by Prakash Bhartia