Stella Awards

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USFREEDOM911

MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN
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 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 kinds of cases that make you scratch your head. So keep your head scratcher handy.

Here are the Stella's for this past year --

* 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 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!!


* FIRST PLACE *
This year's runaway First Place Stella Award winner was: Mrs. Merv Grazinski, of Columbus , Ohio , who purchased new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On her first trip home, from an OSU 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 Ohio 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.
 
USFREEDOM911 said:
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 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 kinds of cases that make you scratch your head. So keep your head scratcher handy.
Click to expand...

Funny you would mention that, since she wasn't the first to suffer 3rd degree burns from Mcdonalds coffee (which was heated to 180 degrees as opposed to the mandated 162), and in the end only received money for the medical care she required from said burns.
 
General Sheridan said:
Funny you would mention that, since she wasn't the first to suffer 3rd degree burns from Mcdonalds coffee (which was heated to 180 degrees as opposed to the mandated 162), and in the end only received money for the medical care she required from said burns.
Click to expand...

Just curious; but do you take the lid off of a hot cup of coffee and place it between your legs, while you're driving?
If no, why not?
 
USFREEDOM911 said:
Just curious; but do you take the lid off of a hot cup of coffee and place it between your legs, while you're driving?
If no, why not?
Click to expand...

She wasn't driving. The car was parked and in any event she was in the passanger seat. That said the jury said that 20% of the incident was her fault. But that left 80% at the hands of McDonalds. Further she only sued for medical damges, and the judge added an additional punitive damage that was later overturned.
 
General Sheridan said:
She wasn't driving. The car was parked and in any event she was in the passanger seat. That said the jury said that 20% of the incident was her fault. But that left 80% at the hands of McDonalds. Further she only sued for medical damges, and the judge added an additional punitive damage that was later overturned.
Click to expand...

You still don't see the stupidity of putting hot coffee between your legs.
People like you are the reason that warning labels have been placed on things similar to telling people not to iron their face.
 
USFREEDOM911 said:
You still don't see the stupidity of putting hot coffee between your legs.
People like you are the reason that warning labels have been placed on things similar to telling people not to iron their face.
Click to expand...

And you see the wisdom in heating a liquid (for human consumption no less) to a point where it will cause 3rd degree burns within 1.8 seconds of contact, and also beyond the temperature of the container for said beverage, especcialy after 600+ lawsuits to date involving similiar circumstances?
 
General Sheridan said:
And you see the wisdom in heating a liquid (for human consumption no less) to a point where it will cause 3rd degree burns within 1.8 seconds of contact, and also beyond the temperature of the container for said beverage, especcialy after 600+ lawsuits to date involving similiar circumstances?
Click to expand...

If it was beyond the temperature that the container is capable of, then the container would have never survived the initial pouring; plus how come she was the only one that suffered any burns, from the same coffee dispenser, at that McDonalds, on that day?

Yet just another sign that some people aren't able to take care of themselves and want a nanny state to do it for them; but then, some people really do need to be taken care of.
 
General Sheridan said:
And you see the wisdom in heating a liquid (for human consumption no less) to a point where it will cause 3rd degree burns within 1.8 seconds of contact, and also beyond the temperature of the container for said beverage, especcialy after 600+ lawsuits to date involving similiar circumstances?
Click to expand...

When did scalding become burning?
 
General Sheridan said:
And you see the wisdom in heating a liquid (for human consumption no less) to a point where it will cause 3rd degree burns within 1.8 seconds of contact, and also beyond the temperature of the container for said beverage, especcialy after 600+ lawsuits to date involving similiar circumstances?
Click to expand...

I wonder why places make the coffee so hot. I usually pour part of mine in the garbage and add milk or cream.

While I'm ranting why do restaurants also serve soup so hot? One either burns their tongue or becomes accustomed to the high temperature so when the main meal comes it's cool in comparison.

I have noticed higher class restaurants don't do that, however, I can't afford hundred dollar dinners all that often. :(

Life's a bitch! Especially when it's 3:20 am and I can't sleep.
 
General Sheridan said:
Que?
Click to expand...

It always used to be that scalding was wet heat and burning was dry heat.

scald·ing (skôl
prime.gif
d
ibreve.gif
ng)adj.
1. Causing a burning sensation, as from contact with hot liquid.
2. Boiling: scalding water.
 
Hotter water makes better coffee! I WANT my coffee that hot. If it's about 5 degrees short of melting the cup, that is perfect. Also: my old percolator makes coffee JUST AS HOT as what that stupid woman dumped in her lap!
 
General Sheridan said:
Funny you would mention that, since she wasn't the first to suffer 3rd degree burns from Mcdonalds coffee (which was heated to 180 degrees as opposed to the mandated 162), and in the end only received money for the medical care she required from said burns.
Click to expand...
Exactly and the large judgement against McD's was punitive as in previous cases they refused to change their behavior despite fines and penalties for being in non-compliance. A multimillion dollar judgement woke their ass up.
 
apple0154 said:
I wonder why places make the coffee so hot. I usually pour part of mine in the garbage and add milk or cream.

While I'm ranting why do restaurants also serve soup so hot? One either burns their tongue or becomes accustomed to the high temperature so when the main meal comes it's cool in comparison.

I have noticed higher class restaurants don't do that, however, I can't afford hundred dollar dinners all that often. :(

Life's a bitch! Especially when it's 3:20 am and I can't sleep.
Click to expand...
You extract the most essential oils from coffee at boiling temperatures. However, it's practically undrinkable until the temp lowers to under 175 deg F as it will seriously scald the drinker. Then factor in that in the McD case you're not talking about someone sitting at a table where the chances of spillage are low. You're talking about a "to go" service where those odds are high. That is why the 160 deg F standard (which is the temperature where the vapor pressure of water begings to increase substantially as approaches boiling) was set as a safe standard. The odds of being burned are reduced dramatically at or below this temperature.
 
Aoxomoxoa said:
It always used to be that scalding was wet heat and burning was dry heat.

scald·ing (skôl
prime.gif
d
ibreve.gif
ng)adj.
1. Causing a burning sensation, as from contact with hot liquid.
2. Boiling: scalding water.
Click to expand...

Oh ok. Yeah, I know, but I'm arguing with a prole.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
Exactly and the large judgement against McD's was punitive as in previous cases they refused to change their behavior despite fines and penalties for being in non-compliance. A multimillion dollar judgement woke their ass up.
Click to expand...

You certainly meant previous cases where the person was to stupid to take care of themself and needed a nanny state to protect them.
 
This responses on this thread, fully explain as to why iced coffee was invented.
It was to protect stupid people from hot coffee.
 
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