Lawsuits in America: out of control / Americka soudni rizeni se vymykaji kontrole

I love this country but one thing I really find absolutely ridiculous are those lawsuits…Someone trips over a sand toy in a park, breaks his nail and all of a sudden there is a twenty million lawsuit!!!! (WARNING: this is a hypothetical case. Please do not try to duplicate that).

Here is an email that my friend sent me the other day. UNBELIEVABLE!!!! Just wait until you get to #1…..

CZ: Miluji Ameriku ale jednu vec, kterou tezce snasim jsou nesmyslne soudni procesy!!! Nekdo zakopne v parku o hracku na pisek, zlomi si nehet a je z toho 20 milionovy soud (UPOZORNENI: Nesnazte se tuto hypotetickou situaci prosim duplikovat. Dekuji)! To neni mozne!! Jen pockejte, az si prectete, co mi poslala jedna ma kamaradka. A POCKEJTE, az si prectete cislo 1:

 

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 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 kind of cases that make you scratch your

head. So keep your head scratcher handy Here are the Stellas for this past

year — 2012

* 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 sued a Philadelphia restaurant. A

jury ordered the 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 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 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!!!

If you liked this post buy me a coffee! (Suggested:$3 a latte $8 for a pound) Thanks!