Somebody might have posted this before.....:D :D but its still good..

*You've got to be kidding me! *


*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 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:


**7 TH 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.

**6 TH 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.


**5 TH 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 **a**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...

**4 TH 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 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**:* *

**Third place goes to 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?

Scratch, scratch, scratch. Hang in there; there are only two more
Stella's 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 club 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 onto 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 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.


Are we, as a society, getting more stupid...?*



*NO, just the law courts!*

hm.. i got an american friend actually frustrated of this mis-use of law in the US now.. tat is y doing some tinee-wenee things there make u sign 20 pages of terms & conditions.
he walked out of his diners and tripped and a car plate of the mercedes belongs to the manager of the diners slash his leg and required 8stiches, he thinks tat is 100% his own stupidity, so he did not sue or do anything otherthan claim his medical insurans for the treatment.
and he even told me that, there're plenty of TV commercial from Lawyers' offices yelling "Do you get hurt in work? Do u feel u r stressed bcos of outside influences? Do you.... etc etc? WE CAN GET YOU SOME MONEY!"

hm.. i got an american friend actually frustrated of this mis-use of law in the US now.. tat is y doing some tinee-wenee things there make u sign 20 pages of terms & conditions.
he walked out of his diners and tripped and a car plate of the mercedes belongs to the manager of the diners slash his leg and required 8stiches, he thinks tat is 100% his own stupidity, so he did not sue or do anything otherthan claim his medical insurans for the treatment.
and he even told me that, there're plenty of TV commercial from Lawyers' offices yelling "Do you get hurt in work? Do u feel u r stressed bcos of outside influences? Do you.... etc etc? WE CAN GET YOU SOME MONEY!"

That is USA...!

in malaysia, when we see a kid or a child fall down or even an old lady fall down, by default we will go and help to carry them up right...but if in USA, they will sue you and say that you are the one that push them down...so go figure

That is USA...!

yea, but my dear fren who is a senior personnel in my company know how to use-the-law-rite, it's 8stiches, am sure if he wants to go all the way, he will get good money out from that incident. but still he did not do tat, bcos he willing and dare to admit it's out his own stupidlity.