Forget the Oscars and the Emmys. You see histrionics of a higher caliber by the winners of the annual Stella awards. The Stella Awards are handed out to the most absurd, ridiculous and frivolous lawsuits of the year.
The last year for which the Stella awards were handed out was 2007, and there were three winners that year.
Third place went to Sentry Insurance Company. The company provided Workers Comp insurance to a “Meals on Wheels” program. One of the Meals on Wheels volunteers had been injured during a fall on the property where she had gone to deliver a meal. The volunteer was not even wearing footwear at the time. The insurance company was forced to pay for her injuries. However, in order to recoup their losses, the insurance company sued the homeowner on whose property the fall occurred – an 81-year-old woman. It isn’t just greedy people you should be worrying about when you decide on asset protection plans, but also greedy insurance companies.
Second place went to the family of a man who actually managed to get drunk, wander off into a hotel service area, crawl into an air-conditioning unit and pass out. When the unit was activated, the man was unfortunately seriously injured, and died. It was a tragedy no doubt, but it’s hard to understand what the hotel or any personnel could possibly have done to prevent an intoxicated man from crawling into an air conditioning unit. That didn’t stop his family from suing the hotel for a staggering $10 million.
The 2007 Stella Award however went to Raleigh L. Pearson Junior, a judge from Washington DC who sued his dry cleaner for a pair of missing pants. Yes, that’s right. He sued a small, mom-and-pop dry cleaning business for approximately $65.5 million over a pair of missing trousers. Those must have been some expensive pants. Fortunately, the judge threw the case out, and awarded damages to the dry cleaners. Unbelievably, Pearson appealed that decision too.
It just goes to show that there are no limits when it comes to the extent of the absurdity people will go to in order to make a quick buck at someone else’s expense. To be fair, many of the most frivolous lawsuits are tossed out, but many of them do get their day in court.
This Post Has 0 Comments