Thursday 31 July 2008

PW & Stella

Peter Worthington had us hook, line and sinker thinking all of the American lawsuits profiled in his Stella Awards column today were legit.

No. 3 even sounded familiar because of an accident report in the past year involving a driver who thought his vehicle would guide itself while on cruise control.

Peter's case:

3. When Howard Grazinski purchased his new motorhome and entered the freeway to drive it home, he set the cruise control at 70 miles an hour and left the driver's seat to make a cup of coffee in the back. The vehicle crashed and overturned. Grazinski was awarded $1,750,000 on grounds that the handbook should have warned drivers not to leave the seat.

It sounded so real, so . . . American.

The legit American lawsuits Peter cites are as dumbfounding:

2. When shopping at a mall, Marcy Meckler was "attacked" by a squirrel. In trying to escape, Meckler fell and suffered severe injuries. She sued the mall for $50,000 for their "failure to warn" that squirrels lived in the area.

4. Shawn Perkins sued after being hit by lightning in a parking lot. He felt the parking lot management should have warned people not to be outside during a thunderstorm.

A fun Sun read in memory of the late Stella Liebeck and her hot coffee suit against MacDonald's.

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