The Stella Awards for 2011!

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 coffee. You remember,
she took the lid off and put the cup between her legs while 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 &nbs... handy.

Here are the Stellas for year
-- &nbsp...
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 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.

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 throw it at her
boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during 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!!

* 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 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?