Stella Award
...Recently I purchased anEveready pen flashlight. I was fascinated by the warning on the package: "Ifswallowed, promptly see doctor; have doctor phone (202) 625-3333 collect."When I read this, immediately a number of questions popped into my head:
1) How many people swallow pen flashlights?
2) How many of the people who swallow pen flashlights have saved thepackaging with the phone number and have access to it at the time theyswallow the flashlight?
3) Who is at the other end of that telephone number and what do theyadvise if you swallow a pen flashlight?
It turns out that the phone number leads to the National Poison Centerand National Battery Center (you might want to copy it down and put in onyour fridge - [202] 625-3333). The lady I spoke with informed me that to thebest of her recollection she didn't know of anyone who had swallowed a penflashlight, but if they did it would need to be removed - though there islittle to worry about leakage from the batteries.
I began to wonder why a reputable, respected company would put such aseemingly ridiculous warning on their packaging. Then I received via emailan article about the Stella Awards. And if you ask, "What are the StellaAwards?", I remind you of Stella Liebeck who collected $2.9 million dollarsfrom McDonalds for spilling hot coffee on herself. The Stella Awards aregiven for the most frivolous lawsuits in the United States.
Here is a run down of contenders for the Stella Award:
- Kara Walton of Claymont, Delaware who collected $12,000 from a nightclub for knocking out two front teeth while falling from a bathroom windowto avoid a $3.50 cover charge for entering the club. The jury also awardedher dental care to fix her teeth.
- Amber Carson of Lancaster, Pennsylvania who was awarded $113,000 froma Philadelphia restaurant when she slipped on a floor wet from a softdrink and broke her tailbone. How did the floor get wet? She threw thesoft drink at her boyfriend (ex-boyfriend?) in a fit of anger 30 secondsbefore slipping...
- Jerry Williams of Little Rock, Arkansas received $14,500 and medicalexpenses from his jury for injuries on his glutimus maximus (the buttocks)where he was bit by his neighbor's beagle. The beagle was chained in theneighbor's fenced-in yard. The jury kept the monetary award to a minimumsince Jerry was provoking the dog immediately preceding the bite byrepeatedly shooting the dog with a pellet gun.
- Terrence Dickson of Bristol, Pennsylvania received $500,000 for his 8days of mental torment from being locked in a garage with only a case ofPepsi and a bag of dog food to subsist on. It seems that after robbing thehome, he decided to escape through the garage, but couldn't get the garagedoor up or get back into the house. The family was on vacation. (I wonderif the award would have been less if it had been a case of co*ke...)
- Kathleen Robertson of Austin Texas benefited $780,000 and medicalexpenses for tripping over a toddler in a furniture store. It made nodifference that it was her own kid.
- Carl Truman of Los Angeles was compensated $74,000 and medicalexpenses when his neighbor ran over Carl's hand with his Honda Accord.Carl didn't know his neighbor was in the car when he started to steal thehubcaps.
- The winner, however, was Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City who bought anew Winnebago Motor Home. While driving home on the freeway he engaged theCruise Control and then left the driver's seat to go back in to the motorhome to make a cup of coffee... He received $1,750,000 plus a new motorhome ... and an addendum in the Winnebago owner's manual advising ownersnot to leave the wheel after engaging Cruise Control.
It could be that the people at Eveready Battery Company had heard aboutthe Stella Awards when they designed their packaging...
What does all of this mean to us? It is easy to laugh at the foibles,irresponsibility and greed of others, but remember that when you point afinger at someone three fingers point back to you. There is something deepin our psyche that looks to place blame with others when really we should belooking at our own behavior and our own personal responsibility.
By: KalmanPackouz
ORIGIN: http://www.aish.com/torahportion/shalomweekly/Ki_Tetzei_5762.asp
source ofawards: http://www.stellaawards.com/2002.html
Doesn'tHold Water Twenty-seven-year-old Daniel Dukes was found dead in the early morning hoursdraped over the back of the largest killer whale in captivity. Dukes,scratched and bruised, was clad only in his underwear. Authorities concludedhe suffered hypothermia and drowned. Dukes, a drifter, was trespassing when he took a dip in the frigid cold 50degree water.
The parents of a man who was found dead in a killer whale’s pool at SeaWorld Orlando sued claiming the theme park caused his death by portrayingthe dangerous 5-ton orca as safe and huggable.
("Seaworld Death a Puzzling Case," San Antonio Express-News, July 26)
Flaming Pop-Tart Becomes Burning Courtroom Issue
A New Jersey couple is suing the Kellogg Co., as well as appliance makerBlack & Decker Corp., for $100,000 in damages, alleging that a cherryPop-Tart they put in their toaster turned into a blowtorch and burned downtheir house. The couple admitted to leaving their house while the Pop-Tartwas heating up, despite the warning label on the box advising againstleaving food unattended in the toaster.
(“From toaster to lawsuit”, The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 28, 2001)
http://inq.philly.com/content/inquirer/2001/07/28/front_page/JPOPTART28.htm
The Case of Sand Box Situation
A sand box fight between a couple of three-year-olds has ended up with alawsuit and a restraining order to keep the two warring toddlers apart.Boston attorney Howard Speicher, who is a neighbor of the child being suedsaid, “this is something that really never should have left the playground.It’s an incident that happens in every sandbox in the country, and somehowpeople manage to deal with it every day."
SimpleToRemember.com - Judaism Online
