This Is Why People Hate Lawyers

[LUFPAN]

You just can't figure it out - no matter how hard you try - so, who is (are) stupider, the idiots that do these things or the morons on the juries who make these findings and give these awards ?? I've been saying it for years now - we've outlived juries and we need to find another way to resolve issues



The Stella Awards are named after 81 year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled hot coffee on herself and successfully sued McDonald's (in NM). That case inspired the Stella Awards for the most frivolous, ridiculous, successful lawsuits in the United States. Here are this year's winners:
!


5th Place (tie): 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 owners of the sto! re were understandably surprised at the verdict, consideri ng the misbehaving little toddler was Ms. Robertson's son.



5th Place (tie): 19-year-old Carl Truman of Los Angeles won $74,000 and medical expenses when his neighbor ran over his hand with a Honda Accord. Mr. Truman apparently didn't notice there was someone at the wheel of the car when he was trying to steal his neighbor's hubcaps.



5th Place (tie): Terrence Dickson of Bristol, Pennsylvania, was leaving a house he had just finished robbing by way of the garage. He was not able to get the garage door to go up since the automatic door opener was malfunctioning. He couldn't re-enter the house because the door connecting the house and garage locked w! hen he pulled it shut. The family was on vacation, and Mr. Dickson found himself locked in the garage for eight days. He subsisted on a case of Pepsi he found, and a large bag of dry dog food. He sued the homeowner's insurance claiming the situation caused him undue mental anguish. The jury agreed to the tune of $500,000. In my opinion this is so outrageous that it should have been 2nd Place!



4th Place: Jerry Williams of Little Rock, Arkansas, was awarded $14,500 and medical expenses after being bitten on the buttocks by his next door neighbor's beagle. The beagle was on a chain in its owner's fenced yard. The award was less than sought because the jury felt the dog might have been just a little provoked at the time by Mr. Williams who had climbed over the fence into the yard and was shooting it repeatedly with a pellet gun.



3rd! Place: A Philadelphia restaurant was ordered to pay Amber Carson of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, $113,500 after she slipped on a soft drink and broke her c! occyx (tailbone). The beverage was on the floor because Ms.Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument.



2nd Place: Kara Walton of Claymont, Delaware, successfully sued the ow! ner of a night club in a neighboring city when she fell fr om the bathroom window to the floor and knocked out her two front teeth. This occurred while Ms. Walton was trying to sneak through the window in the ladies room to avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge.
She was awarded $12,000 and dental expenses.



1st Place: This year's runaway winner was Mrs.
Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Mrs. Grazinski purchased a brand 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 drivers seat to go into the back and make Herself a sandwich. Not surprisingly, the RV left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Mrs.Grazinski sued Winnebago for not advising her in the owner's manual that she couldn't actually do this. The jury awarded her $1,750,000, plus a new motor home. The company actually changed their manuals on the basis of this suit, just in case there were any other complete morons around.

[Miss Kitty]

Those are pittiful. Funny but pittiful.

[Firebird]

I can't comment on most of the above cases, but I can on the infamous "Stella" case, or McDonalds hot coffee case.

Would you consider Stella's case "frivolous" if the following were true--

1. "Stella" received third degree burns to her genitals and legs, despite the face that the coffee burned her THROUGH her underwear and pants fabric.

2. Mcdonald's admitted in open court that they sold coffee at a temperature so high it was "unconsumable"

3. "Stella" was not actually driving at the time, nor was the car moving. Her grandson was driving, and had pulled the car over to the side of the road to allow her to open the lid and put in cream and suger.

4. Later, a jury reduced the winnings to $480,000 in punitive damages.

Think about how hot a liquid needs to be to give you a third degree burn. Then decide for your self if you should hand out something like that to people in styrofoam cups with little crappy lids. There are plenty of cases to use as posters for lawsuit abuse, but this is not one of them.

[Firebird]

And actually, I can now comment on the above named lawsuits. Snopes.com (the urban legend reference page) reveals them to all be fabrications, which have circulated online in various forms.

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

[dragonsdaddy]

And actually, I can now comment on the above named lawsuits. Snopes.com (the urban legend reference page) reveals them to all be fabrications, which have circulated online in various forms.

http://www.snopes.com/legal/lawsuits.asp
i hope you are right. i'd hate to be the member of any society or nation or species that would proceed in such a manner.

[Slim-Rob]

Party pooper....

[Firebird]

Sorry for spoiling the fun ya'll. Although Snopes doesn't list the Winnebago case, someone would need to check it out for veracity as well. I'm off to swim laps.

[Slim-Rob]

Sorry for spoiling the fun ya'll. Although Snopes doesn't list the Winnebago case, someone would need to check it out for veracity as well. I'm off to swim laps.

There is no way the Coffe McDs sold gave her 3rd degree burns. Sorry, but that would burn through styrofoam cups very easily if it was that hot.

I'm sure some idiot had done the Winnebago deal....

An Austin police officer transported prisoners in their trunk....

[GoOwls]

[QUOTE=RocketTRN]There is no way the Coffe McDs sold gave her 3rd degree burns. Sorry, but that would burn through styrofoam cups very easily if it was that hot.

I'm sure some idiot had done the Winnebago deal....

An Austin police officer transported prisoners in their trunk....[/QU

[stevefoxsc]

its always stupid crap like that, that makes me wounder. I remeber one time in business law are teacher told us this old lady sued 7-11 after a car ran in off the high way and hit her...

[Slim-Rob]

[quote=RocketTRN]There is no way the Coffe McDs sold gave her 3rd degree burns. Sorry, but that would burn through styrofoam cups very easily if it was that hot.

I'm sure some idiot had done the Winnebago deal....

An Austin police officer transported prisoners in their trunk....[/QU

HUH?

[lonny23]

I can't comment on most of the above cases, but I can on the infamous "Stella" case, or McDonalds hot coffee case.

Would you consider Stella's case "frivolous" if the following were true--

1. "Stella" received third degree burns to her genitals and legs, despite the face that the coffee burned her THROUGH her underwear and pants fabric.

2. Mcdonald's admitted in open court that they sold coffee at a temperature so high it was "unconsumable"

3. "Stella" was not actually driving at the time, nor was the car moving. Her grandson was driving, and had pulled the car over to the side of the road to allow her to open the lid and put in cream and suger.

4. Later, a jury reduced the winnings to $480,000 in punitive damages.

Think about how hot a liquid needs to be to give you a third degree burn. Then decide for your self if you should hand out something like that to people in styrofoam cups with little crappy lids. There are plenty of cases to use as posters for lawsuit abuse, but this is not one of them.
The joke is she did something wrong and got paid for it. I see no need to make coffee as hot as McDonalds would do, but it still doesn't get around the fact that she spilled it on herself. She should've been more careful and no reasonable person needs a reminder that coffee is hot and doesn't need to be spilled.

[Slim-Rob]

The joke is she did something wrong and got paid for it. I see no need to make coffee as hot as McDonalds would do, but it still doesn't get around the fact that she spilled it on herself. She should've been more careful and no reasonable person needs a reminder that coffee is hot and doesn't need to be spilled.
Exactly. When my mom makes coffee, she always asks me to get her a glass. I always manage to spill some on my hand. It hurts....does this mean I can sue the coffee pot maker? Or the coffee cup maker? NO

[dragons08]

The joke is she did something wrong and got paid for it. I see no need to make coffee as hot as McDonalds would do, but it still doesn't get around the fact that she spilled it on herself. She should've been more careful and no reasonable person needs a reminder that coffee is hot and doesn't need to be spilled.
yet they still put CAUTION:HOT! on the cup...

[Miss Kitty]

At some point people need to take responsibility for their own actions and not feel the need to place blame and be compensated for their accidents.

[Slim-Rob]

yet they still put CAUTION:HOT! on the cup...

I love how nicely some fast food items will ask you to throw them in a garbage can.

[dragons08]

I love how nicely some fast food items will ask you to throw them in a garbage can.
yeah, and people STILL throw them on the side of the road..its ridiculus how lazy, stupid, and fat america is getting

[Slim-Rob]

yeah, and people STILL throw them on the side of the road..its ridiculus how lazy, stupid, and fat america is getting

but it IS fast food. I mean, if you are on the go, you don't have time to stop at a trash can:D

[jtk1519]

Don't hate the playa... hate the game.

[Slim-Rob]

Don't hate the playa... hate the game.

or hate SLC. Its all the same...

[dragons08]

or hate SLC. Its all the same...
oh well, thast just another person i can have fun pissing off:D

its acuttaly quite funny, how many people hate carroll..

[Slim-Rob]

oh well, thast just another person i can have fun pissing off:D

its acuttaly quite funny, how many people hate carroll..
I'm not on the Carroll hating bandwagon...

well...Pete Carroll hating bandwagon yes....

[Tigerjag]

Sorry for spoiling the fun ya'll. Although Snopes doesn't list the Winnebago case, someone would need to check it out for veracity as well. I'm off to swim laps.

The Winnebago was on the link you sent Firebird. Snopes refers to it as the "venerable Winnebago Legend" and includes this additional link. (http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/cruise.asp)

There is also a link with more information about the McDonald's coffee case. (http://caoc.com/CA/index.cfm?event=showPage&pg=facts) Sorry y'all, I'm with the jury on this one. I used to drink coffee from McD's about this time period and it was unbelievably hot. I stopped ordering it if my kids were with me. (I drank tons of coffee when the boys were little!) I had to either put ice in it or let it sit for a long time before it was drinkable.

You can pour boiling water into a cheap styrofoam cup without it melting through. Coffee at 180 to 190 won't eat through the "better" grade of styrofoam that McD's uses.

In this case, I think McDonald's does bear some responsibility. If you read the link I sent, the woman who sued was found 20% responsible. But McDonald's knew that this temperature was above the stadard for the fast food industry, but continued. Yes, everyone knows that coffee is hot, but who expects it to be so hot that it will cause 3rd degree burns?

Because I know that many of you won't click on the link, here is a bit of it:

Liebeck, 79 at the time, ordered coffee that was served in a Styrofoam cup at the drive-through window of a local McDonalds.

After receiving the order, the grandson pulled his car forward and stopped momentarily so that Liebeck could add cream and sugar to her coffee. (Critics of civil justice, who have pounced on this case, often charge that Liebeck was driving the car or that the vehicle was in motion when she spilled the coffee; neither is true.) Liebeck placed the cup between her knees and attempted to remove the plastic lid from the cup. As she removed the lid, the entire contents of the cup spilled into her lap.

The sweatpants Liebeck was wearing absorbed the coffee and held it next to her skin. A vascular surgeon determined that Liebeck suffered full thickness burns (or third-degree burns) over 6 percent of her body, including her inner thighs, perineum, buttocks, and genital and groin areas. She was hospitalized for eight days, during which time she underwent skin grafting. Liebeck, who also underwent debridement treatments, sought to settle her claim for $20,000, but McDonalds refused.

During discovery, McDonalds produced documents showing more than 700 claims by people burned by its coffee between 1982 and 1992. Some claims involved third-degree burns substantially similar to Liebecks.

McDonald's knew their coffee could cause 3rd degree burns, but continued to serve it at that temperature. If it had been my mom, and they refused to help pay her medical bills, I'd probably sue too.

[lonny23]

The Winnebago was on the link you sent Firebird. Snopes refers to it as the "venerable Winnebago Legend" and includes this additional link. (http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/cruise.asp)

There is also a link with more information about the McDonald's coffee case. (http://caoc.com/CA/index.cfm?event=showPage&pg=facts) Sorry y'all, I'm with the jury on this one. I used to drink coffee from McD's about this time period and it was unbelievably hot. I stopped ordering it if my kids were with me. (I drank tons of coffee when the boys were little!) I had to either put ice in it or let it sit for a long time before it was drinkable.

You can pour boiling water into a cheap styrofoam cup without it melting through. Coffee at 180 to 190 won't eat through the "better" grade of styrofoam that McD's uses.

In this case, I think McDonald's does bear some responsibility. If you read the link I sent, the woman who sued was found 20% responsible. But McDonald's knew that this temperature was above the stadard for the fast food industry, but continued. Yes, everyone knows that coffee is hot, but who expects it to be so hot that it will cause 3rd degree burns?

Because I know that many of you won't click on the link, here is a bit of it:



McDonald's knew their coffee could cause 3rd degree burns, but continued to serve it at that temperature. If it had been my mom, and they refused to help pay her medical bills, I'd probably sue too.
OK, I'll agree with you. I knew their coffee was hot and I don't drink coffee, but I can see it was a LOT hotter than other coffee. My personal opinion has always been that anything you drink or eat that can't be consumed immediately is entirely too hot.

[ktCarl]

yet they still put CAUTION:HOT! on the cup...

But, if you buy HOT coffee I suspect it might be HOT. If it were cold and she spilled some she would have sued McD's for false advertising. The jury should have awarded her a coffee enema.

[Firebird]

Thanks Tigerjag. A lot of the time we are too quick to believe, verbatim, the version of lawsuits that advocacy groups put out, without bothering to check it out.

Flawed or not, the United States civil justice system is one to be envied. There is no other alternative that works better. True, sometimes we are over-litigious, but the VAST majority of truly frivolous lawsuits are thrown out of court, and the VAST majority of extreme jury awards are later overturned. Some people would like to do away with the right to sue whatsoever-- until they have been legitamatly wronged and have no other recourse.

[Tigerjag]

My personal opinion has always been that anything you drink or eat that can't be consumed immediately is entirely too hot.

Lonny, stay away from Hot Pockets! And for that matter, fried chicken! Straight out of the fryer into your mouth would cause much discomfort! http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/laugh.gif

The jury should have awarded her a coffee enema.

Oh c'mon Carl, I know I wrote a long post, but try to focus and read a little of it! Want some Ritalin?

yet they still put CAUTION:HOT! on the cup...

When this happened, it was in teeny little letters on the bottom of the cup. Now it's up at the top in big RED letters! Not that I think a warning really makes a difference one way or another. Maybe a CAUTION:ENTIRELY TOO HOT TO DRINK would work. :D

[ktCarl]

Oh c'mon Carl, I know I wrote a long post, but try to focus and read a little of it! Want some Ritalin?



Maybe a little not-quite-so-hot coffee.


Tell that lady not to stick pencils in her ears also.

[Firebird]

[QUOTE=ktCarl


Tell that lady not to stick pencils in her ears also.[/QUOTE]

Oh, come on KTCarl. The two are not remotely the same. The lady spilled the coffee on herself doing something entirely appropriate with a cup of coffee-- putting in some cream and sugar. Here is a little more information about it:

"Further, McDonalds' quality assurance manager testified that the company actively enforces a requirement that coffee be held in the pot at 185 degrees, plus or minus five degrees. He also testified that a burn hazard exists with any food substance served at 140 degrees or above, and that McDonalds coffee, at the temperature at which it was poured into Styrofoam cups, was not fit for consumption because it would burn the mouth and throat. The quality assurance manager admitted that burns would occur, but testified that McDonalds had no intention of reducing the "holding temperature" of its coffee.

Plaintiff's expert, a scholar in thermodynamics as applied to human skin burns, testified that liquids, at 180 degrees, will cause a full thickness burn to human skin in two to seven seconds. Other testimony showed that as the temperature decreases toward 155 degrees, the extent of the burn relative to that temperature decreases exponentially. Thus, if Liebecks spill had involved coffee at 155 degrees, the liquid would have cooled and given her time to avoid a serious burn."

In other words, McDonald's freely admitted that the coffee they served was not fit for consumption--- something that a normal person would do with coffee. They knew that it had caused serious burns before, yet refused to do anything about it. And, when the woman made an offer to settle for a resonable amount, they refused. McDonald's got what was coming to them.

[Firebird]

By the way, the judge, not the jury, called McDonald's conduct "callous, reckless, and willful."

[ktCarl]

By the way, the judge, not the jury, called McDonald's conduct "callous, reckless, and willful."

And the Judge was just talking about McD's service!

The food is worse.

[Tigerjag]

And the Judge was just talking about McD's service!

The food is worse.

Listen to you. And you were just drinking their coffee out in the rain walking the parade on Saturday. (Did you have pencils in your ears???)

:D

[ktCarl]

Listen to you. And you were just drinking their coffee out in the rain walking the parade on Saturday. (Did you have pencils in your ears???)

:D

Coffee isn't food. It's a beverage, Dearykins, and I would have bought coffee from anywhere or anyone especially when I found out who my REAL friends were that didn't share theirs. ;)

Why isn't anyone talking on the Katy board?

[lonny23]

Lonny, stay away from Hot Pockets! And for that matter, fried chicken! Straight out of the fryer into your mouth would cause much discomfort! http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/laugh.gif



Oh c'mon Carl, I know I wrote a long post, but try to focus and read a little of it! Want some Ritalin?



When this happened, it was in teeny little letters on the bottom of the cup. Now it's up at the top in big RED letters! Not that I think a warning really makes a difference one way or another. Maybe a CAUTION:ENTIRELY TOO HOT TO DRINK would work. :D
Those Hot Pockets would get too hot when I was a kid.

[ktCarl]

Oh, come on KTCarl. The two are not remotely the same. The lady spilled the coffee on herself doing something entirely appropriate with a cup of coffee-- putting in some cream and sugar. Here is a little more information about it:

"Further, McDonalds' quality assurance manager testified that the company actively enforces a requirement that coffee be held in the pot at 185 degrees, plus or minus five degrees. He also testified that a burn hazard exists with any food substance served at 140 degrees or above, and that McDonalds coffee, at the temperature at which it was poured into Styrofoam cups, was not fit for consumption because it would burn the mouth and throat. The quality assurance manager admitted that burns would occur, but testified that McDonalds had no intention of reducing the "holding temperature" of its coffee.

Plaintiff's expert, a scholar in thermodynamics as applied to human skin burns, testified that liquids, at 180 degrees, will cause a full thickness burn to human skin in two to seven seconds. Other testimony showed that as the temperature decreases toward 155 degrees, the extent of the burn relative to that temperature decreases exponentially. Thus, if Liebecks spill had involved coffee at 155 degrees, the liquid would have cooled and given her time to avoid a serious burn."

In other words, McDonald's freely admitted that the coffee they served was not fit for consumption--- something that a normal person would do with coffee. They knew that it had caused serious burns before, yet refused to do anything about it. And, when the woman made an offer to settle for a resonable amount, they refused. McDonald's got what was coming to them.

Most of my comments on this board are 'tongue-in-cheek'. I do fail to put those little smiley faces after my comments when I apparently should. They need a face with pencils in its ears. :o