A few weeks back we brought you the long list for the prestigious Stella Prize for women authors, named after Australian literary icon Stella Maria “Miles” Franklin.

What you may not know is there is another Stella Award, named after Stella Liebeck.  Never heard of her?  Let me remind you.  Ms Liebeck, 81, spilled hot coffee on herself and successfully sued McDonald’s in New Mexico, where she purchased coffee. 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?

The Stellar Awards are for the most outlandish lawsuits and verdicts in the U.S. You know, the kinds of cases that make you scratch your head. Keep your head scratcher handy!

The Stella Award Nominees

1. Kathleen Robertson, 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.
2. Carl Truman, 19, California, won $74,000 plus medical expenses when his neighbour 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 neighbour’s hubcaps.
3. Terrence Dickson, Pennsylvania, was leaving a house he had just burglarised 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, yes 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.
4. Jerry Williams, 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 neighbour’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.
5. Amber Carson, 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.
6. Kara Walton, 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 plus dental expenses.

But the winner is… 

The runaway First Place Stella Award winner was: Mrs. Merv Grazinski, of Oklahoma, who purchased a new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On her first trip 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. 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, $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.

What is the most outrageous lawsuit you have ever heard of?