In Europe we often think that the culture in the US can be somewhat special. No in a bad way but in a funny way. ;) I bet you Americans often think the same of us. This is not to offend anyone, so please don't send me a lawsuit :lol:

One reason is:


The "Stella" award ranks up there with the Darwin awards. Stella Liebeck is
the 81 year old lady who spilled coffee on herself and sued McDonalds. This
case inspired an annual award - The "Stella" Award - for the most frivolous
lawsuit in the U.S.

The following are this year's candidates:

1. January 2000: Kathleen Robertson of Austin Texas was awarded $780,000 by
a jury of her peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was
running inside a furniture store. The owners of the store were
understandably surprised at the verdict, considering the misbehaving little
brat was Ms. Robertson's son.

2. June 1998: A 19 year old Carl Truman of Los Angeles won $74,000 and
medical expenses when his neighbor ran over his hand with a Honda Accord.
Mr.Truman apparently didn't notice there was someone at the wheel of the
car, when he was trying to steal his neighbor's hubcaps.

3. October 1998: A Terrence Dickson of Bristol, Pennsylvania was leaving a
house he had just finished robbing by way of the garage. He was not able to
get the garage door to go up since 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. 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. He
sued the homeowner's insurance claiming the situation caused him undue
mental anguish. The jury agreed to the tune of half a million dollars.

4. October 1999: 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 it's owner's fenced-in yard.
The award was less than sought because the jury felt the dog might have been
just a little provoked at the time by Mr. Williams who was shooting it
repeatedly with a pellet gun.

5. May 2000: A Philadelphia restaurant was ordered to pay Amber Carson of
Lancaster, Pennsylvania $113,500 after she slipped on a 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.

6. December 1997: Kara Walton of Claymont, Delaware successfully sued the
owner of a night club 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.

And the winner is: Mr Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City. In November 2000, Mr
Grazinski purchased a brand new 32 foot Winnebago motor home. On his first
trip home, having joined the freeway, he set the cruise control at 70 mph
and calmly left the drivers seat to go into the back and make himself a cup
of coffee. Not surprisingly the Winnie left the freeway, crashed and
overturned. Mr Grazinski sued Winnebago for not advising him in the handbook
that he couldn't actually do this. He was awarded $1,750,000 plus a new
Winnie. (Winnebago actually changed their handbooks on the back of this
court case, just in case there are any other complete morons buying their
vehicles.)

Cheers :)

Dude, those are hysterical! :lol: I find them almost too hard to believe!

LOL :lol: there good

Very funny - loved the last one :lol: :lol:

Is no-one else really disturbed by these stories? :eek:
I blame lawyers!

(Relax Rodgers, I meant ones that actually do some work. ;))

I do find them disturbing. These litigious individuals should be given an opportunity to confer with a priest, and then be made into pet food.
Along with their lawyers.

I've seen those stories elsewhere. They're winners of an award (think Darwins :mwaha: ) named after the coffee fool.

It's funny, but, as you can imagine, many Americans hate frivolous lawsuits and would like laws stopping this.

:lol: Or at least put up a lawyers hunting season!:ar15:

To be fair, the woman who spilled coffee on herself DID have a valid point:

McDonalds, in order to eke out a few more buck, had kept the coffee EXTREMELY hot. Hot enough to do serious burns.

Mind you, she was still a nitwit for putting hot liquids near a sensitive area, but McDonalds was also culpable.

************

That aside, there are too many people being rewarded for stupidity. I remember a case of a guy who sued a truck manufacturer, because he had jacked up his truck, and it had slipped and fell on him. The truck had a clearly-labelled caution saying not to put the jack there, and there was a clearly-labelled place to put the jack. But still the guy won. Why? Well, you see, he was illiterate, so he couldn't read the cautions.

It's bad enough that manufacturers have to put caution signs on everything. But it's even worse when the caution signs don't prevent these stupid lawsuits, because the person was illiterate, or they don't understand any of the five or six languages it's written in, or whatever.

Justice is not only blind, but also dumb...

70% of all lawyers work in North America. :vomit:

Originally posted by newfangle
70% of all lawyers work in North America. :vomit:

Unfortunately:cry:

Man, our justice system is so messed up! :lol:

Originally posted by newfangle
70% of all lawyers work in North America. :vomit:

So the remaining 30% are just lazy bums who don't want to work? Blast them!

:lol: god bless america!

Its amazing how many idiots get court payouts for doing the most idiotic things. Sometimes I wish I was an idiot. Then I could become a lawyer too.

Oh boy, these are hilarious! :lol:

Thse are great! I like the one about the robber and the garage

Originally posted by KingWilly
Its amazing how many idiots get court payouts for doing the most idiotic things. Sometimes I wish I was an idiot. Then I could become a lawyer too.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Yeah We should all become idiots. Hmmm wonder why 70% of all lawyers in world are living in North America ;) ;) :rolleyes:

Well, actually what makes me sad is that the (only?) wrong thing in the US with law and justice is: generally there's no justice if the defender has money, lot of money, and power.... He can afford best barristers and the attacker can never win, even though he was the real victim. Sad system.
How many times in the US I heard stories such as ... blablabla... burglar went in a school to steal things... blablabla, broke his leg while climbing the wall... blablabla... sued the school and won...
Damn. Give me a gun.

Seeing them sueing for anything, (and really I say anything) is absolutely stupid. Bah, there will always be stupid and money greedy people. So stupid that they can't guess generally a high percentage of their money will be paid to the attorney... Errare humanum est.

There was a case(not sure how long ago) where a drunk. Peed on an electric fence and died. His family sued the government as there was not a warning sign or another non-electrified fence and won for not sure how much. Remembered hearing about this a long time ago.

Ah, the truth comes out.

America: the Greatest Plutocracy on Terra.:nuke:

Money doesn't only scream, it's armed and sadistic.

Well, I don't say and I will never say that America is the worst country in the world eh. Like any other one, it has good and bad things. This one belongs to the bad things and it just makes me sick. But I'm just talking about that particular case. :)

Probably someone will sue you :lol: :lol: :lol:

But with the speed of Portuguese justice, I'm safe here :lol: :D

Location, location, location.:goodjob:

shows why you shouldn't put people who know nothing about laws on the spot and make them decide by their hearts. Obviously, not a single one of these verdicts was reached by common sense - they were all products of feelings - the wrong ones, since inspiring hate for the 'offender' and pity for the 'victim' is easier..... :(

Let's go through them 1 by 1:

1: fine the lady for harming her kid! Take the poor little creature away - one day, when she's fat she'll step on him 8then maybe 10 and playingon the floor) and break all bones in his hand!

2: give the driver an award :) For the atempt at stealing hubcaps fine the guy as for sleeping on a park bench. ;)

3: mak the burglar pay for an 8-day deluxe diet assistance hospital stay. Also, make him pay for fixing the door ;)

4: feed the guy to the dog, then make the heir pay for the vet (the dog WILL get sick)

5: throw soft drinks at her (with the cans!!!), then use her as a mop to clean the floor :mwaha:

6: make her leave through windows all the time. She may never again leave any room though a door.....

The Winnebago thing: this guy needs to be locked away forever - after all he's a danger to any other person who happens to be outside :mad:

SHOOT ALL THE IDIOTS!!!!!Wait then I'm dead ;)

We all are, :)Civ2. We all are.

Originally posted by Cloudyvortex
Ah, the truth comes out.

America: the Greatest Plutocracy on Terra.:nuke:

Money doesn't only scream, it's armed and sadistic.

Is Terra an American word?!? :eek:

It's Scienti-Latin. :D (At least I didn't say Sol III)

Originally posted by newfangle
70% of all lawyers work in North America. :vomit:

The United States to be exact

GET IT RIGHT

So funny but so sad/wasteful.

Here about that guy who sued the bar he was in after going on a stupid drunken rampage? Don't worry if you missed it, there's at least one per month. Here's a real life case from a while back:

Another person who thinks being an idiot entitles them to fabulous cash prizes has taken someone to court: Florida dumbass, Ed O'Rourke got drunk, climbed an electrical transformer, got zapped by 13,000 volts, exploded, and sued the bars that served him alcohol. It may sound stupid, but according to lawyers who are stupid, his case may be valid as it a strong precedent was set by the drowning victim who sued God, manufacturer of the faulty non-water proof human lung. Even though God won that case (mostly through supernatural jury intimidation), O'Rourke's legal team says they have a good chance at a multi-million dollar settlement...blarghblarbhblra

What his lawyer said boils down roughly to this (translated from the language of the dip****):

"We will prove that the bars in question not only knew of my client's history of dip****tedness, but did not specifically tell him to avoid suicidal acts of idiocy on his way home."

The bars aren't the only ones in trouble from idiot lawsuit fans. Dumbass Ed O'Rourke also named Tampa Electric Co. as a defendant in the lawsuit. He said the utility did not do enough to prevent him from getting into a fenced, gated, and locked substation and scaling the electrical transformer. Tampa Electric has told courts their snipers put 8 bullets and a knife in the man, but their Earth weapons were not enough to stop his stupid rampage. After a dramatic pause, one said grimly, "He made it past Commander Killstrike. No one's EVER made it past Commander Killstrike." One nearby Russian boxer added, "He is like a piece of iron."

This thread has potential. Keep up the good work!

sources: news.google.com, seannbaby.com

By the way, i didnt write that.

http://www.seanbaby.com/news/drunkzap.htm

^
|
|
Full article in all of it's goodness. SEANBABY.COM PROBE the funniest magazine online today, and based in Portland, too!

"CAUTION! Do NOT step further! Ladder ends here!"




no further comment needed....... :rolleyes:

(Note: I believe this to be a joke, not a true story.)

She Can't Win!

One evening after attending the theater two gentlemen were walking down the street when they observed a well-dressed, attractive young lady walking just ahead of them. One turned to the other and said, "I'd give 50 bucks to spend the night with that woman."

To their surprise, the woman turned and said, "I'll take you up on that." She had a neat appearance and a pleasant voice, so after bidding his friend good-night, the man accompanied the lady to her apartment, where they immediately went to bed. The following morning the man presented her with 25 dollars as he prepared to leave. She demanded the rest of the money stating, "If you don't give me the other 25 I'll sue you for it."

He laughed, saying, "I'd like to see you get it on these grounds." The next day he was surprised when he was served with a summons ordering his presence in court as defendant.... He hurried to his lawyer and explained the details of the case.

His lawyer said, "She can't possibly get a judgment against you on such grounds, but it will be interesting to see how her case will be presented." After the usual preliminaries, the lady's lawyer addressed the court as follows: "Your Honor, my client is the owner of a piece of property, a garden spot surrounded by a profuse growth of shrubbery, which property she agreed to rent to the defendant for a specified length of time for the sum of $50.

The defendant took possession of the property, used it extensively for the purpose for which it was rented, but upon evacuating the premises he paid only $25. The rent is not excessive since it was restricted property, and we ask judgment to be granted against the defendant to assure payment of the balance."

The defendant's lawyer was impressed and amused at the way the case had been presented. His defense was therefore somewhat altered from what he had planned.... This is what he said:

"Your Honor, my client agrees the young lady has a fine piece of property, for a degree of pleasure was derived from the transaction. However my client found a well on the property, around which he placed his own stones; sunk a shaft and erected a pump, all labour being personally performed by him. We claim these improvements to the property are sufficient to offset the unpaid balance, and that the plaintiff was adequately compensated for the rental of the said property. We therefore ask that the judgment not be granted."

The young lady's lawyer's comeback was like this.... "Your Honor, my client agrees that the defendant did find a well on the property, and he did make improvements such as described by my opponent, however, had the defendant not known the well existed, he would have never have rented the property; also, on evacuating the premises, the defendant moved the stones, pulled out the shaft and took the pump with him. In so doing he not only dragged his equipment through the shrubbery, but left the hole much large than it was prior to his occupancy, making it easily accessible to little children. We therefore ask judgment be granted."

She got it....

Bah, he was a bastard that's all.

Btw, I heard that Betty Bullock, that woman smoker aged 61 got $28 billions (!!) from Phil Morris because she started to smoke since she was 17 and she complained that there was a lack of information about smoking addiction. Now she has a cancer. Well, I don't want to be sadistic but I really wonder what she will do with all that money in hell...
How stupid people can be. They're responsible for what they've done (unless they're animals and therefore irresponsible) and still they claim justice. The justice is that they deserve what they did. Why should they yell if they smoked by their own will? Now the fact that she didn't know cigarette was dangerous is really stupid and silly. Same thing for all the current cases taken to courthouse where those tards all say they didn't know cigarette was deadly. Really dumb. Let them die all.:)

Not to get political, Genghis, but there is a great deal of culpability on the part of the cigarette manufacturers. People say that smokers can just quit. And yet, cigarette manufacturers do things to make cigarettes more addictive. And they KNOW they're doing it. They write memos about it. Then they deny knowing that cigarettes are addictive, and that they cause cancer.

If cigarette manufacturers would just admit that cigarettes kill, that cigarettes are addictive, that cigarettes make you do disgusting things (hack up phlegm in the morning, get stains on your teeth and fingers, smell like an ashtray), then I might start to accept them.

But cigarette manufacturers pay to have top celebrities smoke during movies (I know, product placement happens all the time) to make smoking look cool. They put in things like ammonia to "add flavor," when in fact it increases the delivery of nicotine (sp?). They do all sorts of reprehensible things.

They've brought this on themselves. They've placed profits before human lives, to the tune of hundreds of thousands of lives a year. A pharmaceutical company makes a drug that causes five deaths, and it's pulled off the shelf. A cigarette manufacturer glamorizes cigarettes, makes them more addictive so you can't stop once you start (nicotine is more addictive than most illegal drugs), denies the risks, and then gets off scot-free when a conservative takes the office.

There's a big difference between some nitwit driving along with a hot beverage resting on their crotch, and someone who, fifty years ago, started taking up smoking because of all the glamor the cigarette company advertised.

A cigarette smoker who quits is only one puff away from picking up their addiction again.

And no, I don't smoke. I tried, but it made me dizzy and sick. So I didn't pick up the habit.

I've heard a lovely story that shows that justice can be done - sort of. There was this guy in America who bought a pack of 24 very fine quality cigars and as they were so valuable, insured them against (you guessed it) fire. Anyway before making a single payment on the insurance, filed a claim stating that the cigars were destroyed through a series of small fires. Naturally the case went to court and the guy won and the insurers were forced to pay up. Before the 'victim' left the court, the insurers charged him with 24 counts of arson on insured property and using the just finished court case evidence obtained a lenghty jail sentence (1 year / cigar I think) for the 'arsonist'. Nice, eh?

Originally posted by Gregski
I've heard a lovely story that shows that justice can be done - sort of. There was this guy in America who bought a pack of 24 very fine quality cigars and as they were so valuable, insured them against (you guessed it) fire. Anyway before making a single payment on the insurance, filed a claim stating that the cigars were destroyed through a series of small fires. Naturally the case went to court and the guy won and the insurers were forced to pay up. Before the 'victim' left the court, the insurers charged him with 24 counts of arson on insured property and using the just finished court case evidence obtained a lenghty jail sentence (1 year / cigar I think) for the 'arsonist'. Nice, eh?

Yeah, that's a classic. Too bad it isn't true . :( Link (http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/cigarson.htm)

In fact, I regret to say that almost none of these stories are true. The first post (The "Stella" awards) is also totally made up.
Link (http://www.snopes.com/legal/lawsuits.htm)

The Philip Morris story, however, is true. But that does not mean that the woman will get anything even near that amount of money. The case will continue in higher courts, and will probably end with a settlement of maybe a few million dollars maximum. Not to say that the woman won't get rich.

Originally posted by Psy
4. October 1999: 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 it's owner's fenced-in yard.
The award was less than sought because the jury felt the dog might have been
just a little provoked at the time by Mr. Williams who was shooting it
repeatedly with a pellet gun.


:lol: :lol:

Originally posted by Lt. 'Killer' M.
Let's go through them 1 by 1:

1: fine the lady for harming her kid! Take the poor little creature away - one day, when she's fat she'll step on him 8then maybe 10 and playingon the floor) and break all bones in his hand!

2: give the driver an award :) For the atempt at stealing hubcaps fine the guy as for sleeping on a park bench. ;)

3: mak the burglar pay for an 8-day deluxe diet assistance hospital stay. Also, make him pay for fixing the door ;)

4: feed the guy to the dog, then make the heir pay for the vet (the dog WILL get sick)

5: throw soft drinks at her (with the cans!!!), then use her as a mop to clean the floor :mwaha:

6: make her leave through windows all the time. She may never again leave any room though a door.....

The Winnebago thing: this guy needs to be locked away forever - after all he's a danger to any other person who happens to be outside :mad:

Let's do it! :lol: :evil::p ;) :mad:

I like them. In my enlightened point of view all inhabitants of such country are that way *wissle* :)



J/K, ok? ;)

Terribly funny stories. :lol: Best story IMO: slipping over a beverage she threw herself. :rolleyes:

But seriously, these cases are killing the US. Everytime I see an American product and I read all these terribly stupid warnings I feel pity for those companies.

I think one step into the right direction would be getting rid of the jury and let the judge himself do the verdict.

This is why everyone except the Americans find the American people so amuzing ;)

fixed.

puh, that can't be serious. Now I know why the text on my microwave reads "don't put pets in". ..

It seems you could be paid for your stupidity in the US, I know a lot of people I like to sent you over ;)

Ya know, most of these people who win have to face counter-suits, and if they commited a crime persecution from the State. ;) They don't get off that easily.

Here's one:
A guy on the 4th of July climbed a High-Tension tower to watch fireworks, and he brought a 6-pack with him.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
The next day he was found dead on the ground with his fly open
:lol:

These frivolous lawsuits make me fear for the future of my country. With all these lawsuits, the average "go along with everything" person will figure they can get a quick buck by committing an act of stupidity that isn't already stated in the manual. I really don't like these lawyers who work on these lawsuits; they're the same people who are the reason we can't play tackle football on PT days and can't assign push-ups to people goofing-off on the drill field.

Well, if you rob a house in America, make sure you get hurt so you can file a lawsuit against the people you robbed ;)

If you are getting robbed, and you shoot the robber, make sure you kill him, or you get arrested for assault with a deadly weapon, and you don't want him testifying against you ;) :lol:

Good stories! :lol: With those kinds of lawsuit around, no wonder 70% of the worlds' lawyers work in the US.... ;)

As for the Stella Awards:

All were just UNJUST!
besides the last one: ;)

Originally posted by SanPellegrino
puh, that can't be serious. Now I know why the text on my microwave reads "don't put pets in". ..



I have heared about a lawsuit from the US where a woman put her cat in the microwave oven to dry him and after the incident she sewed the microwave company for not telling her not to put her cat in the microwave oven... That might be why the text reads that...

Oh, whats up with those "Caution! Floor Slippery when wet" thingys on in the public restrooms?

i think these people need to be shot to prevent their genes being passed on and causing the de-evolution of humans to something below chimps

i agree... we do have a sad justice system. were the only Western country with the death penalty

thank god for that atleast, that and the contersuit.


Some of these are just...so....stupid.

The true Stella awards for all you posters...

http://www.stellaawards.com/2002.html

Oh, and check out this link also.
http://www.stellaawards.com/bogus.html
It may enlighten you...

Also, not to ommit this one:
http://www.snopes.com/legal/lawsuits.htm

Let's see....I remember a case not too long ago, either in one of the Southern states or in California.

A man broke into a home through a window, landed on the kitchen table, which had a sharp knife on it. He didn't see it (lights were off) and he tore open his knees on the blade. He then sued the homeowners for putting hazardous materials over there and also because they didn't leave the light on so he could see it. He won the case and he was awarded a lot of money (over $1 million). The homeowners had to give up their home....to the person that broke into it. He's still living there to this day.


EDIT: The sad thing is not just how incredibly stupid this is but also in that it's giving those who want to put limits on damages even more firepower. It's taking away money and decent lawyers from those who really have good cases and were wronged and definately deserve the money.

Now now, Yankee, think for a moment. Do you have proof that the story is real? Where did you hear it? Have you ever considered that it's just a fabrication ?


Check my links for further reference...

http://www.stellaawards.com/bogus.html

and this:

http://www.snopes.com/legal/lawsuits.htm

Unfortunately true: the cases against fast food chains, namely, McDonalds, for not informing their customers that frequent dining (such as two to three times daily for 10 years) leads to unhealthy obesity.

The problem is not with the judicial system in the United States, it is in the indifferent populace. The vast majority of jury members are uneducated, low-income people. People w/ secondary education and higher paying jobs will usually do anything and everything in their power to avoid jury duty. These relatively poor, uneducated jurors see no problem in issuing extravagant reqards in said lawsuit cases. Another example would be the OJ Simpson case -- several jurors discarded the entire DNA evidence because they "didn't believe in DNA."

THe problem is that the "average" American will [i]never want to participate on a jury...

for those who think the lawsuit against mcdonalds is paying FAR too much attention to rumours and media that likes to give their viewers seemingly funny stories.

If you actually learned about the lawsuit you will find that it was quite justified, and that the courts lowered the money drastically.

This OLD woman got 3rd degree burns in sensitive places you dont want to think about. She sued mcdonalds because they were making their coffee too hot as to save money from reheating the coffee when it gets too cold. Other people had sued mcdonalds prior about the same thing but the few million dollars they were saving by having coffee and dangerously hot levels was worth the lawsuits or something like that. They were not changing their policy at all.

The final verdict, IIRC was as much money they save from heating up their coffee once and never reheating it, for something like a year maybe, as well as their not heating it so much ever again.

Originally posted by SanPellegrino
...It seems you could be paid for your stupidity in the US, I know a lot of people I like to sent you over ;)

our government pays George Bush $200,000 a year for his stupidity. this is probably the saddest one of all.

The main problem is not the lawyers (though they perpetuate the problem). The biggest problem is the jury, since they are the ones who decide who wins the case. When you are called for jury duty in the US, about 50 people are placed into a room, you hear a preview of the case, and then the lawyers get to ask each jury member what they do for a living, where they went to school, etc. Then they pick 12 people who stay for the case. The rest get $17 for their trouble and get to leave. Clearly the lawyers wouldn't take anyone who is well-educated or uses brainpower in their daily life. They want people who are easily moved by emotional arguments (i.e. dumb people).

If you graduated from a (decent/well-known) four-year college in America, there's a good chance you'll never have to serve on jury duty.

What a sad state our justice system is in. They're is no penalty for people suing someone and losing in America, because they only have to pay up when they win. I not sure about this 100%, but in Europe isn't that whoever loses in a case is responsible for both sides legal fees? (someone who lives there could tell me whether that is correct or not). Anyway people this dumb should not be rewarded for their stupidity.

BTW sorry for reviving a year old thread, but I found it an interesting topic.

The last one reminds me of the swedish chain saw that says: "CAUTION: Do not use this to cut off hands or genitals."

"I was driving and hit into a bus. I want compensation because the bus was five minutes early."

I think that was a joke one that I got told about.

as posted earlier, these lawsuits in teh stella wards are all ficitious.

http://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/hoaxes/hoax5.asp?HName=Stella+Awards+Hoax

Not to get political, Genghis, but there is a great deal of culpability on the part of the cigarette manufacturers.
Perhaps, but I find greatly immoral than a woman can become a millionar when her only achievment was to spend her life destroying it smoking, when people who work hard can sometimes have difficulty to simply feed their children properly.

If the cigarette manufacturers are fined, then the money should be send to hospitals, not to smokers.

It is stupid and here it looks like a system for morons to get quickly rich.hmmm maybe i should be such a moron as well :ack:

My friend was doing reserach on tort reform and came up with this:

A women sued a playground because of incorrectly colored plastic which caused her child to crash into a metal bar, changing the figure of his nose, and ruining his chances of becoming a model. I'm not 100% sure, but I think she won.

I'm glad I live in Canada, but the next time I'm in the States I pray not to see this written on a spoon:
WARNING: Sudden impact with eyes may cause severe injury and permanent loss of sight.

When people need to be warned about eye gouging, the system has failed horribly. :shakehead

CANADA!!!! :lol: GOTCHA!!!!! Now I know where to go in our next post war!!!! :evil:

They want people who are easily moved by emotional arguments (i.e. dumb people).


Man, that is a great line right there. :D

Do you know more judicial cases?
Please post :D

Dug up topic alert!

Note to self: When I conquer the world, kill all the lawyers. This sort of thing is funny, and depressing at the same time.

Wow, this thread has been bumped 3 different times.

When I conquer the world
You won't. ;)

Wow, this thread has been bumped 3 different times.


You won't. ;)
But you agree on the kill the lawyers part right? I refuse to believe you are qualified for world domination if you don't.:p

I knew a guy once (abotu 30-40 years older than me, he must be in his 50s now) whose ickle children were in the balcony, and the dog in the balcony upstairs pissed from the balcony and hit the children because of the wind! He sued the dog´s owner, but in the end he lost and had to pay the expenses for the trial! Poor guy.

This is fake.

http://www.snopes.com/legal/lawsuits.asp

There are real ones though.

http://www.stellaawards.com/

Why are so many people saying that these lawsuits are stupid? They are really smart, actually. Those who sue know that this is a way to earn money, and so they sue. Stupid people aren't smart enough to see a potential source of income from lawsuits.

The same counts for the lawyers. A smart lawyers knows that lawsuits like these are likely to pay off, and therefore support the one who sues.

I think we should sue TF for giving us a free forum for posting. Many hours have been wasted here by me alone. It is only fair that TF pays for so many hours lost. :p

:lol: So true! :lol:

I don't care about the MEGA bump, this is hilarious.

You're lucky. In the USA, those lawyers are only roaming the streets, down here, they're in government.

This is great! :lol: Mood is set till the end of the day!

They all are hilarious, but I'm having a hard time believing them to be true.
There no common sense in any of them.

If they all really are true, then I'm not surprised about USA's current choise of president anymore ...

You're lucky. In the USA, those lawyers are only roaming the streets, down here, they're in government.At least there´s not a vandal in government, like here.

They all are hilarious, but I'm having a hard time believing them to be true.
There no common sense in any of them.

If they all really are true, then I'm not surprised about USA's current choise of president anymore ...
There is common sense in them. You can make a lot of money from lawsuits like these, as the examples show.

With this in mind, I also know why Bush is president. There are so many people who are too stupid to see how such a lawsuit can make you rich.

I can sue a nail-scissor maker because I can´t cut my nails properly with his scissors! Only in America!

Maybe moving to the US is a good idea after all... I can just spend all day looking for something I can sue somebody for, and I'm a rich man. That's my American Dream. :lol:

There was a case(not sure how long ago) where a drunk. Peed on an electric fence and died. His family sued the government as there was not a warning sign or another non-electrified fence and won for not sure how much. Remembered hearing about this a long time ago.
Urban myth.
http://www.mythbustersfanclub.com/html/myths_revisited.html

Leads me to doubt many of the other cases here too.

3. October 1998: A Terrence Dickson of Bristol, Pennsylvania was leaving a
house he had just finished robbing by way of the garage. He was not able to
get the garage door to go up since 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. 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. He
sued the homeowner's insurance claiming the situation caused him undue
mental anguish. The jury agreed to the tune of half a million dollars.

this smells like BS, i mean think about it, 8 days?! the garage door was made out of solid steel? the connecting door too?

even if they were, im sure any moron would be able to work his way out after a while, hell as long as theres and metal object in there to be used as a tool, you should be able to work your way out, make a hole in the friggin wall if you had too.

without a tool it would take longer, but still feasible.

Dry dog food and Pepsi can turn anybody a little nutty. Nutty enough not to figure out how to break out of a garage.

i think im going to sue the entire world population for being stupid.

silly double post.

I'm not sure why everyone seems to be blaming Lawyers for these frivilous law suits. If you can get away with making money from it why not? Don't you pride yourselves on living in a Capitalist Free Society?

It's down to the judges to strike out these stupid claims or give only nominal damages. Reading the cases, if they are true, they wouldn't get awards on my side of the water because you would have to prove the defendant's action wasn't reasonable. Declaring negligence against a company for not cleaning something up, which the claimant themselves dropped, before the claimant falls on it is not bloody reasonable.

You probably wouldn't have guessed but we represent these claimants, some need to be told the facts of life :)

yes the judges are probably pretty stupid too to let someone get all that money for a moronic claim

Best Lawyer Story

Maybe the best lawyer story of the year, decade, and probably the century.

A Charlotte, North Carolina lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars, then insured them against fire, among other things. Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of these great cigars and without yet having made even his first premium payment on the policy, the lawyer filed claim against the insurance company.

In his claim, the lawyer stated the cigars were lost in a series of small fires. The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason that the man had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion.

The lawyer sued ... and WON! (Stay with me here.)

In delivering the ruling, the judge agreed with the insurance company that the claim was frivolous. The judge stated nevertheless, that the lawyer "held a policy from the company in which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that it would insure them against fire, without defining what is considered to be unacceptable fire" and was obligated to pay the claim.

Rather than endure lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000 to the lawyer for his loss of the rare cigars lost in the "fires."

NOW FOR THE BEST PART...

After the lawyer cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of ARSON! With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used against him, the lawyer was convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and was sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $24,000 fine.

This is a true story and was the First Place winner in the recent Criminal Lawyers Award Contest.

Only in America! No wonder the Third World countries think we are nuts :-)

Where did you hear this?
This is so funny!

It's on the Stella Awards Web Site

http://www.stellaawards.com/

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/yourplaceandmine/topics/war/belfastblitz/images/euromap.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/yourplaceandmine/topics/war/belfastblitz/context.shtml&h=263&w=360&sz=16&tbnid=Ju3FPjx-w-oJ:&tbnh=85&tbnw=117&hl=en&start=3&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dthird%2Breich%2Bmap%26svnum%3D10%26hl %3Den%26lr%3D%26safe%3Doff

This is why Americans find European people so amusing...

We need to reform the lawsuit system in America, so that people will have personal responsibility

silly double post.
I think I might sue some for the fact that there are Double posts here. Someone must pay for this. :) :rolleyes:

I must bring the simpsons to this thread.

Promo: If you have a game fever? Then we have only one cure for that. take two tickets to the game.
Voiceover: Warning: Tickets are not to be take internally.
Homer: Thanks to me, they now have a warning.

:lol:I wish I was an idiot, I could make some big bucks

Granted. :p

Sorry, been playing Good Wish, Bad wish too much. :D

I skimmed through the first two pages.

Are you guys sure that those lawsuit stories in the first post are even real? Some of them sound too far fetched. I don't have the desire to research the veracity of those stories though.

(Note: I believe this to be a joke, not a true story.)

She Can't Win!

One evening after attending the theater two gentlemen were walking down the street when they observed a well-dressed, attractive young lady walking just ahead of them. One turned to the other and said, "I'd give 50 bucks to spend the night with that woman."

To their surprise, the woman turned and said, "I'll take you up on that." She had a neat appearance and a pleasant voice, so after bidding his friend good-night, the man accompanied the lady to her apartment, where they immediately went to bed. The following morning the man presented her with 25 dollars as he prepared to leave. She demanded the rest of the money stating, "If you don't give me the other 25 I'll sue you for it."

He laughed, saying, "I'd like to see you get it on these grounds." The next day he was surprised when he was served with a summons ordering his presence in court as defendant.... He hurried to his lawyer and explained the details of the case.

His lawyer said, "She can't possibly get a judgment against you on such grounds, but it will be interesting to see how her case will be presented." After the usual preliminaries, the lady's lawyer addressed the court as follows: "Your Honor, my client is the owner of a piece of property, a garden spot surrounded by a profuse growth of shrubbery, which property she agreed to rent to the defendant for a specified length of time for the sum of $50.

The defendant took possession of the property, used it extensively for the purpose for which it was rented, but upon evacuating the premises he paid only $25. The rent is not excessive since it was restricted property, and we ask judgment to be granted against the defendant to assure payment of the balance."

The defendant's lawyer was impressed and amused at the way the case had been presented. His defense was therefore somewhat altered from what he had planned.... This is what he said:

"Your Honor, my client agrees the young lady has a fine piece of property, for a degree of pleasure was derived from the transaction. However my client found a well on the property, around which he placed his own stones; sunk a shaft and erected a pump, all labour being personally performed by him. We claim these improvements to the property are sufficient to offset the unpaid balance, and that the plaintiff was adequately compensated for the rental of the said property. We therefore ask that the judgment not be granted."

The young lady's lawyer's comeback was like this.... "Your Honor, my client agrees that the defendant did find a well on the property, and he did make improvements such as described by my opponent, however, had the defendant not known the well existed, he would have never have rented the property; also, on evacuating the premises, the defendant moved the stones, pulled out the shaft and took the pump with him. In so doing he not only dragged his equipment through the shrubbery, but left the hole much large than it was prior to his occupancy, making it easily accessible to little children. We therefore ask judgment be granted."

She got it....

AFAIK, if the case was American then it is false. The lady would sue in small claims, and thus not have a lawyer. A man would not go to a lawyer over a matter of 25 bucks. Also it costs $50 to file a suit in small claims, so why would someone sue for 25 dollars? At least this is how it works in California, I am not sure about the rest of the U.S.

Yeah... put the story says dollars, not euros.

OK, a few things.

First, you really need to read the whole thread. All these stories have been proven false once, if not more times, in this thread.

There are a few bad cases that you hear where the case ends up being dismissed. This is very significant because all the money the lawyer put into the case (assuming its a fee based on winnings and not a retainer) is lost. If a case is something like this, he isn't very likely to take it because he could loose very easily. While I'm not going to say cases like this don't happen, they aren't as common as people think.

EDIT: Cripes, nevermind. I was showing how Snopes disproved these. Needless to say, that's rather embarrassing given the post right above mine.

That's OK, we might as well disprove them another time. Some people don't feel like reading an entire thread, and they don't get disproved until halfway through the second page, so they don't even notice it before they comment.