Stella Awards 2005

Most of you will know of the Darwin Awards, given to people who do their bit for the future of the human race by killing themselves in stupid ways. However you may not be familiar with the Stella Awards, which are awarded to people who have successfully sued companies for their own crass stupidity. They are named after 81-year old Stella Liebeck... who spilled coffee on herself and successfully sued McDonald's for millions.

This years runners up are:

Jerry Williams of Little Rock, Arkansas. Won $14,500 after being bitten on the arse by his neighbour's beagle. Mr Williams was shooting it repeatedly with a pellet gun at the time.

Amber Carson was paid $113,500 by a Philadelphia restaurant after she broke her back from slipping on a soft drink... which she had just thrown at her boyfriend.

Kara Walton of Delaware sued a nightclub and won $12,000 after falling from a bathroom window and knocking out her two front teeth. This occurred while Ms Walton was trying to sneak through the window in the ladies room to avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge.

But the winner is:

Mrs Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma who purchased a brand new 32-foot Winnebago. On her first trip, she drove on the freeway, set the cruise control at 70 mph and went out back to make a sandwich. She crashed. Then sued for the manual not advising her not to do this. The jury awarded her $1,750,000 plus a new motor home. The company then changed their manuals on the basis of this suit.