And I'm hoping you'll comment and tell me your favorite...
Here they are for 2013:
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.
SIXTH PLACE
Carl Truman, 19, of Los Angeles 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.
FIFTH PLACE
Terence Dickson, of Bristol, Pennsylvania, was leaving a house he'd 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. We should have this kind of anguish.
FOURTH PLACE
Jerry Williams, of Little Rock, Arkansas, garnered fourth place 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 didn't get a much as he'd asked because the jury thought the beagle might have been provoked when Williams climbed over the fence into the yard and repeatedly shot the dog with a pellet gun. HUH? I'd bite him too.
THIRD PLACE
Amber Carson of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. 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 in an argument.
SECOND PLACE
Kara Walton, of Claymont, Delaware, sued the owner of a nightclub in a nearby city when 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 awarded her $12,000 plus dental expenses.
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. Grazinsky sued Winnebago for not putting in the owner's manual that she couldn't actually leave the driver's seat when 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.
Naturally I have to include a short excerpt from Fearless Pursuit...coming soon, I keep hoping. Edits on this one have proved troublesome.
He found her in the music room,
staring out the window into the dark night.
He came up behind her and
turned her slowly in his arms until she faced him. Tears were running down her
cheeks, and when she saw who held her she sobbed and laid her dark head on his
shoulder.
Astonished at her acceptance of
his embrace, he handed her a handkerchief and held her while she gulped, mopped
at her tears, and then relaxed again in his arms. The feel of her beautiful
body so close to his almost broke his control. He kissed her hair softly and
sweetly as she nestled closer. Unable to stop himself, he lifted her face and
claimed her mouth. Their kiss blazed into instant heat and he groaned as he ran
his tongue around her soft lips, demanding she let him in. Her hesitancy surprised
him. It seemed more as if she didn’t know what he wanted rather than the
reluctance he’d expected. Gently nipping her lower lip, she gasped and he
thrust his tongue in to finally taste her sweetness.
Dear lord of all the elves, she
tasted better than butter and vanilla icing. He’d noticed before she always
wore a scent that smelled like daffodils, and he sucked on her tongue as he
breathed in the evocative fragrance. She caught on quickly, running her tongue
around his lips as soon as he released it, and then allowing him to deepen the
kiss.
Holding her tightly with one
arm, he freed the other to caress her face and then her shoulders, and finally
he let his hands roam along the sides of her breasts and down to her narrow
waist. Afraid to truly explore her breasts and nipples, he contented himself
with tracing the shape of the perfect rounds and cupping them in his hands.
She made no attempt to stop
him, and his cock raged almost out of control. Dear elves, he didn’t want to
shoot his cum in his pants, but he was very near to doing just that. She was so
damned delectable, so perfect for him, that he pushed her against the wall and
ground his rigid cock against her soft body.
A mistake. Whether the size of
his cock frightened her he didn’t know, but she suddenly pushed him away and
slid from under his arms.
“Rurik, I’m sorry, I don’t know
what came over me. I didn’t mean to lead you on like that.”
He finally gulped in enough air
to answer.
“My love, and you are my love,
don’t look so startled. I’m the one to apologize. I pushed you much too fast. I
can’t feel truly sorry, though, it was simply too wonderful to have you in my
arms.”
She’d sped to stand half-way
across the room and was eyeing him warily.
“You can’t mean that, it’s too
soon. We barely know each other. I never should have encouraged you on like
that. I’ve never acted like a slut before.”
12 comments:
These are all amazing. This is why I believe there's intelligent life "out there" in space. We can't be the most intelligent race when you have people winning lawsuits that are ridiculous.
All the ones you listed represent the worst in people trying to "get something for nothing"...and their own stupidity is culprit. And the lawyers who represent them? Vultures.
I hope the parties who were sued counter-sue for mental anguish due to stress.
There are days when I simply cannot believe our justice system. When criminals are allowed to game the system and sue their victims, there is definitely something wrong. I had to shake my head though when I read the one about the woman crashing the Winnebago because she was making herself a sandwich after she put it on cruise. Unbelievable.
These are great. I can't believe these people won their cases. That says a lot about our legal system. I like the one where the woman tripped over her own toddler. The one in Claymont, DE, happened just a few miles from me. I remember when it was in the paper. I wouldn't think to sue in any of these cases. The worst example was the woman and the Winnebago and all the money the jury awarded her. She was TSTL.
OMG, these are jaw-dropping. Thanks for sharing, Jean.
Aren't they all just amazing. They are really hard to believe, Glad to hear Cara's comment about one being in the paper. I was beginning to wonder if they were for real, they are so outlandish.
Paris, Tina, and Marianne, thanks for your comments too. I knew a horrible one (my husband's first boss's wife who bragged about the nine lawsuits she had going at once, all of them ridiculous. Seems it was her hobby.
Interesting viewpoint, Cris. It surely is hard to explain...
I can remember when a burglar broke into a home and was shot by the home owner. The burglar sued and won. It's unbelievable.
They were all funny. I can't believe that people actually won! I've heard of burglars suing people that they were robbing before when the dog bit them. I've also heard of criminals in the jails suing the states for better accommodations. Really, people? I think I would be the lone holdout on a jury over these type of cases. But then again you read my post on warning labels... I'm sure someone put the toilet brush in their mouth on their teeth and then sued and won, hence the new warning label. Too bad you can't label stupid!
Life gets crazier and crazier, doncha think? Thanks for commenting, Melissa and Sandy!
Oh those are funny and a sad reflection of our judicial system. I read one once about a man who used his golf club to knock down weeds. He swung, the club hit a rock and broke in two, the broken piece bounced back and stabbed him in the leg. He successfully sued because nowhere on the box did the golf club maker state "Not to be used for knocking down weeds"
I have trouble believing there are people like the Winnebago woman on this planet... that they haven't somehow snuffed themselves out over the years. Now I understand why most instruction manuals are written as if they are for morons.
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