Thursday, December 13, 2007

Strange, but successful lawsuits - Week 1

First, I want to thank you for coming to our site! I hope you find the help that you are seeking, or are able to provide legal assistance for some of our viewers.

I thought I'd gather up some of the "strange but true" lawsuits and put together a weekly tracker. I hope you enjoy the first week -

Quoted from various websites and assumed, but not guaranteed, to be true:

Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas: Awarded $80,000 by a jury of her peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running inside a furniture store. The store owners were understandably surprised by the verdict...considering the running toddler was Mrs. Robertson's son.

Carl Truman (19) of Los Angeles, California: Awarded $74,000 plus medical expenses when his neighbor ran over his hand with his Honda Accord. Mr. Truman apparently didn't notice his neighbor was at the wheel of the car while he was attempting to steal his hubcaps.

Terrence Dickson or Bristol, Pennsylvania: While in the process of leaving a home he had just burglarized through the garage, Mr. Dickson became locked in when the automatic garage door opener failed to open, and the door leading into the house locked upon closing. He was forced to wait in the garage for a period of 8 days, surviving on nothing but a case of Pepsi and a large bag of dry dog food. Upon release, he sued the homeowner's insurance company, claiming undue mental anguish for his "captivity". The jury awarded Mr. Dickson $500,000 for his trouble.

Jerry Williams of Little Rock, Arkansas: Awarded $14,500 plus medical expenses after being bitten on the butt buy his next-door neighbor's beagle...even though the beagle was on a chain, in his owner's front yard. Mr. Williams did not, however, receive the full amount of his asking damages as the jury decided the beagle may have been provoked, since Mr. Williams had climbed over the fence and repeatedly shot the dog with a pellet gun.

Amber Carson of Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Awarded $113,500 to be paid by the restaurant where she slipped on a spilled soft drink and fractured her coccyx (tailbone). The reason for the spilled soft drink was due to Ms. Carson throwing it at her boyfriend prior to the fall, during an argument.

Kara Walton of Claymont, Delaware: While attempting to sneak into a local nightclub through the women's restroom to avoid the club's $3.50 cover charge, Ms. Walton fell onto the bathroom floor, and knocked out her two front teeth. A jury decided to award her $12,000 plus dental expenses to be paid by the nightclub she was sneaking into.

Merv Grazinski or Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: Mrs. Grazinski had recently purchased a new 32-foot Winnebago motor home, and during the trip home from an OU football game, she decided that she was hungry. After arriving onto the highway, she expertly set the vehicle's cruise control to 70 MPH, calmly left the driver's seat, and headed to the back of the Winnebago to make herself a sandwich. Not surprisingly, the motor home left the freeway, crashed, and overturned. Mrs. Grazinski sued the Winnebago corporation for not stating in the owner's manual that cruise control was not the same as "automatic pilot" and that she was not actually able to leave the driver's seat while using it. The jury awarded her $1,750,000 PLUS a new motor home. The Winnebago corporation has updated their driver's operation manuals, as a result of this lawsuit.

Remember to check out http://www.HelpMeSue.com regularly for updates!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Every single one of these lawsuits is fake. These were posted on the net by some dork pushing for tort reform.

If you're going to repost crap, at least check to see if it's true.