If you think it’s been a bad year for the RV industry, and especially motorhome manufacturers, this year’s first place Stella Award must have those at Winnebago shaking their heads and asking, “What next”? In case you don’t recognize the Stella Awards, they are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck, who spilled hot coffee in her lap after she took the lid off the coffee, placed it between her legs, and drove off. It didn’t occur to her that it might spill and burn her, which it did. The kicker is, of course, that she successfully sued the McDonald’s in New Mexico where she purchased the coffee and won. The annual awards are for the most ridiculous law suits–not for being filed, but for actually being won!
This year’s runaway First Place Stella Award winner was Mrs. Merv Grazinski, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Mrs. Grazinski purchased a new 32-foot Winnebago motor home and on her first trip home from an Oklahoma U football game, she drove onto the freeway, set the cruise control at 70 mph. Then she calmly left the driver’s seat to go back to the Winnebago’s kitchen to make herself a sandwich. Not surprisingly, the motor home left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Mrs. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not putting in the owner’s manual that she couldn’t actually leave the driver’s seat while the cruise control was set. The Oklahoma jury awarded her–are you sitting down–$1,750,000 PLUS a new motor home. Winnebago actually changed their owner’s manuals as a result of this suit. Makes you wonder what else can happen to the RV industry. You can read the rest of the Stella Awards here.
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marki
the RV story is totally fabricated.
Bob Difley
Though the Stella Awards is real, the Winnebago story was fabricated, as several other stories have claimed to have come from the Stella Awards. The following are some of those–all fabricated and totally false.
Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas, was awarded $780,000 by a jury after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running amuck inside a furniture store. The owners of the store were understandably surprised at the verdict, considering the misbehaving tyke was Ms. Robertson’s son. Fabricated.
Carl Truman, 19, of Los Angeles won $74,000 and medical expenses when his neighbor ran his hand over with a Honda Accord. Mr. Truman apparently didn’t notice someone was at the wheel of the car whose hubcap he was trying to steal. Fabricated.
Terrence Dickson of Bristol, Penn., was exiting a house he finished robbing by way of the garage. He was not able to get the garage door to go up because the automatic door opener was malfunctioning. He couldn’t re-enter the house because the door connecting the house and garage locked when he pulled it shut. The family was on vacation, so 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. Dickson sued the homeowner’s insurance claiming the situation caused him undue mental anguish. The jury agreed to the tune of half a million dollars and change. Fabricated.
Jerry Williams of Little Rock, Arkansas, was awarded $14,500 and medical expenses after being bitten on the buttocks by his next door neighbor’s beagle. The beagle was on a chain in its owner’s fenced-in yard, as was Mr. Williams. The award was less than sought after because the jury felt the dog may have been provoked by Mr. Williams who, at the time, was shooting it repeatedly with a pellet gun. Fabricated.
A Philadelphia restaurant was ordered to pay Amber Carson of Lancaster, Pennsylvania $113,500 after she slipped on a spilled 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. Fabricated.
Kara Walton of Claymont, Delaware, successfully sued the owner of a nightclub in a neighboring 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 $12,000 and dental expenses.
Bill Russ
As a number have stated, these were fabricated. However, there really is a Stella Awards which report on lawsuit abuse ( there is plenty of it) The web site is http://www.stellaawards.com
Jon Anderson
Well, I was going to point out that the Stella Awards story is phony, but I see several of you already did that. Bob, the next time you want to pass on an urban legend go to http://www.snopes.com and check it out. They do a pretty careful job of researching most of these stories.
Jan
Yup, that one was fabricated.
Ken
Bob,
You might want to also check out http://www.stellaawards.com/bogus.html
There are real stella awards, but this is really a bogus one.
Ken
You should check you sources better.
http://www.snopes.com/legal/lawsuits.asp
PapPappy
Sorry Bob…it’s all false. There are plenty of stupid people out there, but I like to think that we RVers are a bit above the curve!!
Here is Snope.com information : http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/cruise.asp
If you want to check.
Still, it’s a funny story, and one that was shown in the movie “Darwin Awards”, though it was a foreign couple driving the RV.
Happy Camping
PapPappy
Dan Rambow
Too bad this is an uban legend.
Just think, Winnebago could have used this as a safety commercial.
The lady was driving down the freeway, at 70, is walking around inside when the motorhome goes off the freeway, crashes, overturns, etc., and the lady is still around to sue.
Bob Difley
Robert Maurer is right. This story, with variations, has been circulating since cruise controls first appeared. In fact, when I joined a national RV rental company over 25 years ago I was told the story–which the tellers at the company swore was true–of a European visitor renting one of the company’s motorhomes and doing just that, setting the cruise control and going back to the frig for a drink, only in this story he just drove off the road and had only minor damage. To read more about this urban legend, go to: http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/cruise.asp.
Robert Maurer
Bob; that’s an old urban legend. Totally false.