[Leica] Off Topic--Stella Awards

[steve.barbour at gmail.com (Steve Barbour)]

On Mar 7, 2012, at 7:22 AM, wildlightphoto at earthlink.net wrote:

> I've just figured out how to pay for an S2.



go to a dealer, handle an S2, then drop it on your foot....




Steve



> 
> Doug Herr
> Birdman of Sacramento
> http://www.wildlightphoto.com
> 
> Original Message:
> -----------------
> From: Steven Beckham ecoprof10 at gmail.com
> Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2012 08:52:44 -0600
> To: lug at leica-users.org
> Subject: [Leica] Off Topic--Stella Awards
> 
> 
> Folks:
> 
> I know that this is way off base, but I had to share this after getting
> this in the office email.  Enjoy ( I think).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *     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 Stellas for this past year  --
> 
> 
> *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 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 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
> 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 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, be sure to pass this one
> on.*
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> mail2web.com - Microsoft? Exchange solutions from a leading provider -
> http://link.mail2web.com/Business/Exchange
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information