The Stella Awards
Unusual Lawsuits that Sometimes Make the Plaintiff Rich
It may seem superfluous to put a notice that reads “Do not Attempt to Stop Chainsaw Blade with Hand,” on that particular piece of equipment, but it could save Stihl, Poulan, Makita and the others who make these machines a fortune in an injury lawsuit.
Spilled Hot Coffee Yields Bonanza
Stella Liebeck was 79-years old in 1992 when she received burns from hot coffee that spilled in her lap. She sued McDonald's, who supplied the coffee, and was awarded $2.9 million by a jury in New Mexico; ever since, the case has been characterized as an outrageous example of tort law gone wild. But there’s more to Ms. Liebeck’s situation than is usually reported.
As recounted by Dale Wiley of the Springfield, Missouri, News Leader, the coffee was kept at 88 degrees C so that it would taste good. (Coffee made at home is usually at around 54 degrees C.)
When the coffee spilled on Liebeck in the drive-through writes Wiley, “At that temperature, she was burned within two to seven seconds, and the cotton sweatpants she wore held the water close to her body. Stella suffered third-degree burns over six percent of her body, including her inner thighs, and burns of some kind over 16 percent of her body.”
She needed skin grafts and spent eight days in hospital.
Awards for Outrageous Lawsuits Named after Stella
In no way could Ms. Liebeck’s suffering and subsequent lawsuit be described as frivolous or a money grab.
However, her case has forever been associated with people who see a chance to go after companies with deep pockets. The folks at stellaawards.com keep track of what they call “wild, outrageous, or ridiculous lawsuits” and hand out trophies each year to the ones they judge the most egregious.
The website is maintained by Randy Cassingham who wrote the 2005 book, The True Stella Awards.
Fake Stella Awards
The Internet is brimming with stories that claim to be Stella Award winners but aren’t. A favourite is the one about the man who bought a Winnebago and put it into cruise control while he popped in back to make a cup of coffee. He is supposed to have won $1.7 million from the Winnebago company over the resulting crash because he was not warned it might be dangerous if he left the driver’s seat of his vehicle while it was hurtling down the highway.
This and several other supposed outrageous lawsuits are exposed as phony by the myth-debunking website snopes.com.
Some Notable Stella Cases
Randy Cassingham has collected some astonishing lawsuits over the years launched by people who thought they spotted an opportunity to fatten up their bank accounts:
- Doctors at a California hospital rushed to the aid of a very sick woman. The woman’s daughters who witnessed the attempts to save their mother’s life sued, claiming the experience exposed them to needless emotional distress. This case went all the way to the California Supreme Court before it was denied.
- A drunk crawled under a parked truck and fell asleep. “When the inevitable happens (yep: squished), who’s responsible? According to a lawsuit filed by his mother, everybody - except, of course, him.”
- The world has been deeply shocked by news of priests sexually abusing children. But, according to the Stella Awards one “priest was upset that one of his victims came forward and told a newspaper the story of being repeatedly raped - so he sued his victim for not keeping his mouth shut.”
There are plenty more of this ilk and, given the number of lawyers willing to work on a contingency basis hoping to score big if they get a sympathetic jury, there will be plenty more to come.
Serious Blister from Hot Coffee.
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