FROM AN EMAIL:

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. A. You know, the kinds of case that make

you scratch your head. So keep your head scratcher handy.

Here are the Stella's for 2015 !!!!

* 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.

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 head 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.

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 * ~ absolutely brilliant!

This year's runaway First Place Stella Award winner was: Mrs. Merv

Grazinski, of Oklahoma City , Oklahoma , who purchased 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 over turned.

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 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 USA court system is out of control, be sure to pass this one on.

(Don't know if factual or not)