Here's the scene after they landed...
Posted on 04/09/2002 1:48:43 AM PDT by Colosis
The Stella Awards The "Stella" awards rank up there with the Darwin awards. In 1994, a New Mexico jury awarded $ 2.9 million U.S. in damages to 81-year-old Stella Lie beck who suffered third-degree burns to her legs, This case inspired an annual award - The "Stella" Award - for the most frivolous lawsuit in the U.S. The ones listed below are clear candidates. All these cases are verging on attorney you could win anything! 1. January 2000: Kathleen Robertson of Austin Texas was awarded $780,000 by a jury of her peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running inside a furniture store. The owners of the store were understandably surprised at the verdict, considering the misbehaving little so-and-so was Ms. Robertson's son. 2. June 1998: A 19 year old Carl Truman of Los Angeles won $74,000 and medical expenses when his neighbour ran over his hand with a Honda Accord. car, when he was trying to steal his neighbour's hubcaps. 3. October 1998: A Terrence Dickson of Bristol, Pennsylvania was leaving a to get the garage door to go up since the automatic door opener was malfunctioning. He couldn't re-enter the house because the door connecting vacation. Mr. Dickson found himself locked in the garage for eight days. He subsisted on a case of Pepsi he found, and a large bag of dry dog food. mental anguish. The jury agreed to the tune of half a million dollars. 4. October 1999: Jerry Williams of Little Rock, Arkansas was awarded $14,500 and medical expenses after being bitten on the buttocks by his next door neighbour's beagle. The beagle was on a chain in it's owner's fenced-in yard. The award was less than sought because the jury felt the dog might have been just a little provoked at the time by Mr. Williams who 5. May 2000: A Philadelphia restaurant was ordered to pay Amber Carson of Lancaster, Pennsylvania $113,500 after she slipped on a soft drink and broke her coccyx. The beverage was on the floor because Ms. Carson threw it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument. 6. December 1997: Kara Walton of Claymont, Delaware successfully sued the owner of a night club in a neighbouring city when she fell from the bathroom window to the floor and knocked 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. She was awarded 2,000 and dental expenses. And the winner is: Mr Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City. In November 2000 Mr Grazinski purchased a brand new 32 foot Winnebago motor home. On his first trip home, having joined the freeway, he set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the drivers seat to go into the back and make himself a cup of overturned. Mr Grazinski sued Winnebago for not advising him in the handbook that he couldn't actually do this. He was awarded $1,750,000 plus this court case, just in case there are any other complete morons buying their vehicles.)
In the public’s eyes one of the most enduring icons of the civil justice system is the case of Stella Liebeck v. McDonalds Corp., the notorious “McDonalds Coffee Case.” For many people it epitomizes what is wrong with American courts. It is widely viewed by lay people as the ultimate example of a frivolous lawsuit and is& the poster child for the “tort reform” movement. But media accounts of the case were plagued by misinformation. Few know what really& happened to Stella Liebeck. The anecdotal story of the McDonalds case goes something like this: a woman buys a cup of coffee from the drive-up window at McDonalds, puts it between her legs while driving and spills it on herself while trying to take off the lid. She then decides to sue McDonalds for millions of dollars and somehow finds a jury stupid enough to give it to her. This story is far from the truth. In reality, Mrs. Liebeck’s case shows not only that the civil justice system is not broken, but that it continues to yield fair and just results.
* THE REAL STORY *
Stella Liebeck was a passenger in her grandson’s car when she ordered coffee from the drive-through window at a local McDonalds in Albuquerque. After getting the order, her grandson pulled forward and parked so Mrs. Liebeck could add sugar and cream to her coffee. As she removed the plastic lid the entire cup of coffee spilled in her lap almost instantly causing third degree burns to six percent of her body including her inner thighs, perineum, buttocks, genital and groin areas. Mrs. Liebeck was hospitalized for eight days and underwent skin grafts and painful debridement treatments. She only asked McDonalds for $20,000, the amount of her medical bills. McDonalds rejected her offer. Initially, even the jury was skeptical. The foreman stated that before the evidence he “wasn’t convinced as to why [he] needed to be there to settle a coffee spill.” However, the evidence showed that McDonalds served their coffee at between 180 and 190 degrees, substantially higher than other restaurants (in comparison, coffee in the home is served at about 135 degrees). At these temperatures the coffee is unfit for human consumption and will burn a full thickness of human skin in two to seven seconds. In comparison, at 135 degrees it would take continuous pouring for 60 seconds to cause such burns. McDonalds knew that their coffee would cause burns but had no plans to turn down the temperature. Before Mrs. Liebeck’s injury over 700 such burns had been reported to the company, including burns to babies. The company’s position was that hot-coffee burns were statistically trivial compared to the billions of cups of coffee sold annually. McDonalds’ insisted that people buy their coffee in order to take it home or to the office, although their own research showed that customers buy the coffee to drink immediately in the car.
The jury did not buy McDonalds’ numbers defense. A juror said “There was a person behind every number . . . .” They awarded Mrs. Liebeck $200,000 in compensatory damages reduced to $160,000 for her own contributory negligence and $2.7 million in punitive damages. The punitive damage award which so shocked the media pundits represented just two days of coffee sales at McDonalds. This is a modest amount considering the company’s financial condition, blatant misconduct and unrepentant attitude. The judge agreed that McDonalds’culpable corporate sensibility warranted an award of punitive damages. He stated the jury properly considered the “attitudes of corporate indifference” by McDonalds’ witnesses. He further recognized that, although the company “knew that the coffee, at the time it was served, was too hot for human consumption.” Nevertheless, he reduced the punitive award to just $480,000, three times Mrs. Liebeck’s actual damages. After the verdict there was no appeal and the case settled for an undisclosed amount.
FROM GILES WHITTELL IN LOS ANGELES
A MILLIONAIRESS is suing American Airlines after being tied up by the captain of her New York flight while her dog ran riot in first class.
Marcelle Becker, born in Casablanca but widowed in Los Angeles, planned to travel to the East Coast on July 6 last year in her usual style. She bought one first-class seat for herself and another, by the window, for her miniature Maltese, Dom Perignon.
Shaken by an early argument with a stewardess over where to stow the trolley used to carry the dog's cage, Mrs Becker drank a cocktail and dozed off with the help of a sleeping pill, court papers show. She was woken high over the Midwest to be told Dom Perignon had escaped. Pre-trial affidavits conflict on who was to blame but agree the widow lost her temper when told to lock the dog back into its cage and place it under a $2,000 (about £1,200) seat. Offered a glass of conciliatory champagne she reportedly denounced the flight crew as "animal haters". When told the captain would have to be summoned, she told staff what he might do.
Captain Edwin Frost strolled aft hoping to defuse the row. Instead he found Mrs Becker "out of control", with Dom Perignon still at large and "threatening to bite". Asking a stewardess to check that he was not restricting his passenger's blood supply, he bound Mrs Becker's hands behind her back with Dom Perignon's leash and heaved her into an adjoining seat.
Mrs Becker claims the captain bruised her from head to toe, ripped one earring from her ear and broke several of her fingernails. A trial is scheduled for next August.
Here's the scene after they landed...
By Russ Corey
Staff Writer
April 9, 2002
Email this story.
FLORENCE - A former restaurant owner in the city claims in a civil lawsuit that he should not have been forced to pay a worthless check that was written on his corporate checking account.
Greg Jacobs, who owned the popular Court Street Cafe until it closed in October, filed the lawsuit against Florence on March 27 in Lauderdale County Circuit Court.
His attorney claims in the suit that Jacobs did not have liability for the $4,452 check, which was written to pay for past due utility bills.
The check was written on the account for Cafe Concepts, which operated Court Street Cafe on Seminary Street in downtown Florence.
The restaurant closed Oct. 7.
In the suit, attorney Wilson Mitchell of Florence said Jacobs paid the check and worthless check fees to avoid being arrested and charged under the state's Worthless Check Act.
Jacobs claims in the suit that the city negligently collected from him a corporate debt owed by Cafe Concepts.
As a result, his reputation was damaged, and he suffered emotional distress and mental anguish.
He is asking that a jury determine appropriate compensatory and punitive damages, interest and attorney's fees.
The city denies the allegations in Jacobs' suit, according to the answer filed by acting city attorney Stewart O'Bannon III.
The answer also states that Jacobs is guilty of contributory negligence and that he is not entitled to collect punitive damages.
Mitchell was unavailable Monday for comment about the lawsuit.
Lauderdale County District Attorney Steve Graham said it is not uncommon for his office to file charges against an individual who signs a corporate check.
It was not clear Monday if Jacobs signed the check that is at issue in the suit.
Jacobs claimed in the suit that the check was "executed by a manager" at the restaurant.
"I've never known us to proceed against a corporate check, except against the individual who signed it," Graham said.
In general, Graham said the Worthless Check Unit is set up to allow individuals to seek deferred prosecution if they surrender to the district attorney's office, pay the check amount and the applicable fees.
Failure to do so will result in an arrest warrant being filed.
In a separate lawsuit, Jacobs and Cafe Concepts are accused of failing to pay rent on the Court Street Cafe property.
The suit was filed March 13 by King Properties, which held the lease to the restaurant property.
The case will be argued in front of Circuit Judge Mike Suttle.
Russ Corey can be reached at 740-5738 or russ.corey@times-daily.com.
”Stella Liebeck was a passenger in her grandson’s car when she ordered coffee from the drive-through window at a local McDonalds in Albuquerque. After getting the order, her grandson pulled forward and parked so Mrs. Liebeck could add sugar and cream to her coffee.”
A passenger in a car orders a cup of coffee at a drive-through. The claim is then made that the driver pulls into a parking spot (by inference coming to a full stop) before the passenger opens the lid on the coffee to add sugar a cream. Why would the driver do this? The passenger has both hands, plus legs and thighs free to flavor her coffee without parking. In my experience, people who get their food at a drive-through drive off. The reason for this version of the story is to claim that the Liebecks were being extra careful.
” As she removed the plastic lid the entire cup of coffee spilled in her lap almost instantly”
Translation: Mrs. Liebeck spilled hot coffee on herself.”
”However, the evidence showed that McDonalds served their coffee at between 180 and 190 degrees, substantially higher than other restaurants”
So Mrs. Liebeck, having caused herself grave bodily harm, decided that someone else was to blame. She found a scapegoat in McDonalds who served extra hot coffee.
”McDonalds’ insisted that people buy their coffee in order to take it home or to the office, although their own research showed that customers buy the coffee to drink immediately in the car.”
Now I know why, when I buy coffee at a fast food restaurant, the coffee is cold before it’s half gone.
”The jury did not buy McDonalds’ numbers defense. A juror said “There was a person behind every number . . . .” They awarded Mrs. Liebeck $200,000 in compensatory damages reduced to $160,000 for her own contributory negligence and $2.7 million in punitive damages.
As long as we’re dealing with corporations, a few million here and a few million there is OK? After all, the jury isn’t paying out of its own pocket. And, hey, it’s fun giving away a few million of other people’s money, especially when its going to go to such a lovely grandma with all those terrible burns in a sensitive place.
”The punitive damage award which so shocked the media pundits represented just two days of coffee sales at McDonalds.”
How many days of coffee sales it represents is totally immaterial. It’s like the liberal mantra that the cost of one bomber could fund “x” number of schools. What so shocked many of us is that this damage award for someone’s carelessness is so typical of the spirit of the age: “If I hurt myself, someone will pay.”
” This is a modest amount considering the company’s financial condition, blatant misconduct and unrepentant attitude.” Right … big company, serving hot coffee, and does not say the magic words that get you out of trouble in the therapeutic society: “I’m sorry.”
” The judge agreed that McDonalds’culpable corporate sensibility warranted an award of punitive damages. He stated the jury properly considered the “attitudes of corporate indifference” by McDonalds’ witnesses. He further recognized that, although the company “knew that the coffee, at the time it was served, was too hot for human consumption.”
Right … an appeal to authority. The JUDGE says it’s right, so, it’s right. It’s right in there with the penumbras and emanations of the constitution that found the right to an abortion in the constitution. Finish with a nonsense statement, since millions of cups of McDonald’s coffee had been consumed by humans at the time of service.
This is a brief for the plaintiff’s bar, “NOT THE REAL STORY”
-Eric
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