True American Justice???

[sscjoe]

[FONT='Tahoma', 'sans-serif']For those unfamiliar with these awards, they are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled hot coffee on herself and successfully sued the McDonald's in New Mexico where she purchased the 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? That's right; these are awards for the most outlandish lawsuits and verdicts in the U.S. You know, the kinds of cases that make you scratch your head. So keep your head scratcher handy. Here are the Stella's for the past year: 7TH PLACE:[/FONT] [FONT='Tahoma', 'sans-serif']Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas was awarded $80,000 by a jury of her pe ers 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. 6TH 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. Go ahead, grab your head scratcher. 5TH PLACE: Terrence Dickson, of Bristol, Pennsylvania, 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 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.[/FONT][FONT='Tahoma', 'sans-serif'] [/FONT][FONT='Tahoma', 'sans-serif'] [/FONT][FONT='Tahoma', 'sans-serif'] [/FONT][FONT='Tahoma', 'sans-serif']Keep scr atching. There are more... 4TH PLACE:[/FONT] [FONT='Tahoma', 'sans-serif']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 in its owner's fenced yard. Williams did not get as much as 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. Grrrrr.... Scratch, scratch. 3RD 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. Whatever happened to people being responsible for their own actions? Scratch, scratch, scratch. Hang in there; there are only two more Stellas to go... 2ND 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 cl ub had to pay her $12,000 - oh, yeah, plus dental expenses. Go figure. 1ST PLACE: (May I have a fanfare played on 50 kazoos please?) This year's runaway First Place Stella Award winner was Mrs. Merv Grazinski, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, who purchased a 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 owner's manual that she couldn't actually leave the driver's seat while the cruise control was set. The Oklahoma jury awarded he r, 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. Are we, as a society, getting more stupid? Ya think??!! More than a few of our judge's elevators don't go to the top floor either![/FONT][FONT='Tahoma', 'sans-serif'] [/FONT]

[yellowwing]

Hoaxes all, but still there are many lawsuits out there that are almost as bad. The odd thing is that in 'Wrongful' suits the defendant has to prove themselves Innocent.

[sscjoe]

Agree, Wing. I just posted these to show an extreme example of the kinds of suits that the civil courts waste their time with.

[FistFu68]

GREAT POST,WITH A COMBINATION OF ALL OF THESE;I'VE COME UP WITH A SURE $ MAKER.LOANS WILL BE AVAILABLE TOO MY MARINE FRIENDS FOR A VERY LOW INTEREST RATE,SOME HIGHER THAN OTHERS?

[usmchauer]

http://www.snopes.com/legal/lawsuits.asp

Thank God!

[Big Jim]

YEAH ITS AMAZING WHAT KIND OF FRIVOLOUS LAWSUITS MAKE IT INTO COURT THE TAXPAYERS HAVE TO FOOT THE BILLS FOR...THERE SHOULD BE ANOTHER LAW IF YOUR TAKE A LAWSUIT TO COURT...IF ITS FOUND TO BE FRIVOLOUS...THE PERSON TAKING THE LAWSUIT TO COURT SHOULD HAVE TO PAY FOR IT AND ALL COURT COSTS AND ATTORNEY FEES AND LOST WAGES...I WORK IN OHIO'S PRISON SYSTEM AND I SEE CRAP LIKE THIS EVERYDAY...FROM CONVICTED FELONS NO LESS!! 99.999 % OF THESE CASES ARE DEEMED FRIVOLOUS WITHOUT ANY SUBSTANTIATED EVIDENCE OR WARRANT...WHO PAYS FOR THESE...WE DO...PEOPLE WHO PAY TAXES AND FOLLOW THE RULES AND OBEY THE LAWS...THAT JUST PIZZES ME OFF...TAXES GO UP BECAUSE OF THIS...HMPH...!!!!

[yellowwing]

Agree, Wing. I just posted these to show an extreme example of the kinds of suits that the civil courts waste their time with.

Perfect example:

Man sues Tennessee church for $2.5 million over spiritual fall
By The Associated Press
Thu Jul 10, 2:35 PM

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - A man in Knoxville, Tenn., says he was so consumed by the spirit of God that he fell and hit his head while worshipping.

Now he wants Lakewind Church to pay US$2.5 million for medical bills, lost income, and pain and suffering.

Matt Lincoln says he is suing after the church's insurance company denied his claim for medical bills.

The 57-year-old has had two surgeries since the June 2007 injury, but still feels pain in his back and legs.

He says he was asking God to have "a real experience" while praying.

Lawyers for the church say he failed to look out for his own safety, and other congregants even saw him on the floor laughing after his fall