The Annual "Stella Awards"

[ChrisCantSkate]

> Well, it's time once again to check in on the annual "Stella Awards" to
see how they are coming along.
>
> For those who don't know, the Stella Awards rank up there with the Darwin
> awards. In 1994, a New Mexico jury awarded $2.9 million U.S. in damages to
> 81 year old Stella Liebeck who suffered third degree burns to her legs,
> groin and buttocks after spilling a cup of McDonald's coffee on herself.
>
> This is the case that inspired the annual "Stella Award" for the most
> frivolous lawsuit in the U.S. The cases listed below are clear candidates
> for the award and prove that, with the right attorney, you can win
anything!
>
>
> 1. January 2000:
>
> Kathleen Robertson of Austin Texas was awarded $780,000 by a jury after
> breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running inside
furniture
> store. The owners of the store were understandably surprised at the
verdict,
> considering the misbehaving little tyke was Ms. Robertson's son.
>
> 2. June 1998:
>
> A 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.
>
> 3. October 1998:
>
> A 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 when he pulled it shut. The family was on vacation.
>
>
>
> 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 half a million dollars.
>
> 4. October 1999:
>
> 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 it's owner's fenced in yard.
>
> The award was less than sought because the jury felt the dog might have
been just a little provoked at the time by Williams -- who was shooting it
> repeatedly with a pellet gun.
>
> 5. May 2000:
>
> A Philadelphia restaurant was ordered to pay Amber Carson of Lancaster,
> Pennsylvania, $113,500 after she slipped on a soft drink and broke her
> coccyx. The beverage was on the floor because Ms. Carson threw it at her
> boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument.
>
> 6. December 1997:
>
> Kara Walton of Claymont, Delaware, successfully sued the owner of a night
> club in a neighboring city when she fell from 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.
>
> And the front-runner is:
>
> 7. November 2000:
>
> Mr. Merv Grazinski, of Oklahoma City. In November 2000 Grazinski purchased
a brand new 32 foot Winnebago motor home. On his first trip home, having
> joined the freeway, he set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left
the drivers seat to go into the back and make himself a cup of coffee. Not
> surprisingly the Winnie left the freeway, crashed and overturned.
>
> Grazinski sued Winnebago for not advising him in the handbook that he
> couldn't actually do this. He was awarded $1,750,000 plus a new Winnie.
>Winniebago actually changed their handbooks on the back of this court
case, just in case there are any other complete morons buying their vehicles.
>
>

[Maxvla]

Originally posted by 4thGenlude
> And the front-runner is:
>
> 7. November 2000:
>
> Mr. Merv Grazinski, of Oklahoma City. In November 2000 Grazinski purchased
a brand new 32 foot Winnebago motor home. On his first trip home, having
> joined the freeway, he set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left
the drivers seat to go into the back and make himself a cup of coffee. Not
> surprisingly the Winnie left the freeway, crashed and overturned.
>
> Grazinski sued Winnebago for not advising him in the handbook that he
> couldn't actually do this. He was awarded $1,750,000 plus a new Winnie.
>Winniebago actually changed their handbooks on the back of this court
case, just in case there are any other complete morons buying their vehicles.
>
>


doh!! oklahomans aren't usually that stupid.

[heartbreakkid]

Are the jury from those cases are morons???? As I was reading that, I felt mad at those people that were awarded with all that money at their own stupidity. Bunch of moron juries!!!!

[Niacin]

There is a lot of hype about the McDonalds' scalding coffee case. No
one is in favor of frivolous cases of outlandish results; however, it is
important to understand some points that were not reported in most of
the stories about the case. McDonalds coffee was not only hot, it was
scalding -- capable of almost instantaneous destruction of skin, flesh
and muscle. Here's the whole story.

Stella Liebeck of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was in the passenger seat of
her grandson's car when she was severely burned by McDonalds' coffee in
February 1992. Liebeck, 79 at the time, ordered coffee that was served
in a styrofoam cup at the drivethrough 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. This
history documented McDonalds' knowledge about the extent and nature of
this hazard.

McDonalds also said during discovery that, based on a consultants
advice, it held its coffee at between 180 and 190 degrees fahrenheit to
maintain optimum taste. He admitted that he had not evaluated the
safety ramifications at this temperature. Other establishments sell
coffee at substantially lower temperatures, and coffee served at home is
generally 135 to 140 degrees.

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.

Plaintiffs' expert, a scholar in thermodynamics 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 Liebeck's spill had involved coffee at 155 degrees, the liquid would
have cooled and given her time to avoid a serious burn.

McDonalds asserted that customers buy coffee on their way to work or
home, intending to consume it there. However, the companys own research
showed that customers intend to consume the coffee immediately while
driving.

McDonalds also argued that consumers know coffee is hot and that its
customers want it that way. The company admitted its customers were
unaware that they could suffer thirddegree burns from the coffee and
that a statement on the side of the cup was not a "warning" but a
"reminder" since the location of the writing would not warn customers of
the hazard.

The jury awarded Liebeck $200,000 in compensatory damages. This amount
was reduced to $160,000 because the jury found Liebeck 20 percent at
fault in the spill. The jury also awarded Liebeck $2.7 million in
punitive damages, which equals about two days of McDonalds' coffee
sales.

Post-verdict investigation found that the temperature of coffee at the
local Albuquerque McDonalds had dropped to 158 degrees fahrenheit.

The trial court subsequently reduced the punitive award to $480,000 --
or three times compensatory damages -- even though the judge called
McDonalds' conduct reckless, callous and willful.

No one will ever know the final ending to this case.

The parties eventually entered into a secret settlement which has never
been revealed to the public, despite the fact that this was a public
case, litigated in public and subjected to extensive media reporting.
Such secret settlements, after public trials, should not be condoned.
-----
excerpted from ATLA fact sheet. ©1995, 1996 by Consumer Attorneys of
California