A man goes into a lawyer's office and says, "I heard people have sued the tobacco companies for giving them lung cancer, and McDonald's for making them fat."

The lawyer says, "Yes, that's true."

The man says, "Well, I'm interested in suing too."

The lawyer says, "Okay, McDonald's, or the tobacco companies?"

The man says, "Neither I'm suing Budweiser for all the ugly people I've slept with."

That is hilarious! Sounds about right lately. Did you hear about the winner of that award, I don't remember the name of the award but it is for dumb lawsuits people win. Someone bought a motorhome, put it on cruize and went back to make themselves a cup of coffee (you see where this is going). They crashed and won 3.2 million dollars PLUS a new motorhome (genius judge to give them another one) because it didn't say in the manual you couldn't get up and walk away.............

I just remembered it is the Darwin awards I believe because that is the name of the lady that sued McDonalds for the hot coffee deal.

No, actually, they would be refering to Charles Darwin and his theories of evolution. I don't think they are actual awards, I believe it's sort of like a figure of speach. Since part of his theory is that the smartest and strongest in the species survive. It's a sarcastic title, given to those who are obviously not the strongest or smartest of the species.

From www.darwinawards.com:

"The Darwin Awards honor those who improve our gene pool... by removing themselves from it. Of necessity, this honor is bestowed posthumously." This includes those that have unintentionally seperated themselves from their ability to contribute to the gene pool (insert various Bobitt jokes as needed...)

From the Darwin Awards website:
The Darwin Awards honor those who improve our gene pool... by removing themselves from it. Of necessity, this honor is bestowed posthumously.

I don't know what the frivolous lawsuit awards are called.

You beat me to it!

Beagle, you're confusing two different things. The Darwin Awards are given each year to people that have managed to kill themselves in pretty stupid ways, thus proving out Charles Darwin's "Survival of the Fittest" theories of evolution. The list of stupid court awards that includes the motorhome one doesn't have a name that I know of, but has also been documented to be an urban myth by the folks at Snopes.com.

I belive you found the answer, Elena!

Stella Awards

Imagine me confusing something I spend most of my days trying to figure out what I mean. The good news is that all of the people involved are in about the same gene pool so I don't feel so bad about lumping them into the same catagory!

Boy, this subject comes up about 3 or 4 times a year. I won't defend Stella again, but the media gave her a bad rap.

Ha!, Z, I remember that thread when you took the case of Stella vs. BOLers. Well, either we all believe what we want or you can't believe anything you read in print or see or hear as news.

So, were you a lawyer on the case, or are you her son or neighbor, or did you read the court transcript? Or do you just have a differing opinion?

I don't think I have a differing opinion, I think that unlike 99.9% of the people who have made up their minds on this case, I have an informed opinion. When I heard about this case, from my past experience practicing trial law, I could not believe it. Because I could not believe it, I decided to dig a little deeper.

It would probably take days to read a court transcript of this jury trial. I certainly have no relation to the case. I am not a personal injury attorney. I have no stake in this in any manner except to uphold the integrity of the legal system. All I know is tht the "Stella" case was not the travesty of justice that the media made it out to be.

Without looking it up on the Internet, answer these 3 questions to the best of your ability:

1) What did the court award her for her injuries: Thousands? Hundreds of thousands? Millions? Tens of Millions?

2) What were her injuries?

3) What were the circumstances of the incident that led to the lawsuit?

If I could get the general public's answers to these questions, it would show how lopsided the reporting was on this case. I am not making a judgment call on whether or not the jury did the right thing, but I will tell you that after reading a lot on this case, I do know that it was not the "Judicial System Out Of Control" that the media made it out to be. Before judging this or any other case, all I ask is that people dig a little deeper than the headlines.

I couldn't answer your questions w/out looking it up on the internet. (I think you know me Z ) But after reading the following, I felt horrible for the poor lady.

http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cur78.htm

You're right Z - I didn't know that. I guess people tend to believe what they hear.