These are all
true!
The TRUE Stella Awards -- 2007 Winnersby Randy CassinghamIssued February 2008 Unlike the FAKE cases that
have been highly circulated online for thelast several years (see http://www.StellaAwards.com/bogus.html
fordetails), the following cases have been researched from public sourcesand are confirmed TRUE by the ONLY
legitimate source for the StellaAwards: http://www.StellaAwards.com . To confirm this copy is
legitimate,see http://www.StellaAwards.com/2007.html -v-2007 Runners-Up and Winner:
#3: Sentry
Insurance Company. The company provided worker's compensation insurance for a Wisconsin "Meals on Wheels" program.
Delivering a meal, a MoW volunteer (who was allegedly not even wearing boots) slipped and fell on a participant's
driveway that had been cleared of snow, and Sentry had to pay to care for her resulting injuries. Sentry wanted its
money back, so it sued the 81-year-old homeowner getting the Meals on Wheels service. It could have simply filed for
"subrogation" from her homeowner's insurance company, but by naming her in the action, it dragged an old lady into
court, reinforcing the image of insurance companies as concerned only about the bottom line, not "protecting"
policyholders from loss.
#2: The family of Robert Hornbeck. Hornbeck volunteered for the Army and served a stint
in Iraq. After getting home, he got drunk, wandered into a hotel's service area (passing "DANGER" warning signs),
crawled into an air conditioning unit, and was severely cut when the machinery activated. Unable to care for himself
due to his drunkenness, he bled to death. A tragedy, to be sure, but one solely caused by a supposedly responsible
adult with military training. Despite his irresponsible behavior -- and his perhaps criminal trespassing --
Hornbeck's family sued the hotel for $10 million, as if it's reasonably foreseeable that some drunk fool would
ignore warning signs and climb into its heavy duty machinery to sleep off his bender.
But those pale in
comparison to...THE WINNER of the 2007 Stella Award: Roy L. Pearson Jr. The 57-year-old Administrative Law Judge
from Washington DC claims that a dry cleaner lost a pair of his pants, so he sued the mom-and-pop business for
$65,462,500. That's right: more than $65 million for one pair of pants. Representing himself, Judge Pearson cried
in court over the loss of his pants, whining that there certainly isn't a more compelling case in the District
archives. But the Superior Court judge wasn't moved: he called the case "vexatious litigation", scolded Judge
Pearson for his "bad faith", and awarded damages to the dry cleaners. But Pearson didn't take no for an answer:
he's appealing the decision. And he has plenty of time on his hands, since he was dismissed from his job. Last we
heard, Pearson's appeal is still pending.Copyright 2008
www.StellaAwards.com -- this message may be forwarded as long as it remains
complete and unaltered.
To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.
Thomas Jefferson
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