Stella ‘honour’ for frivolous but successful lawsuits

The most outrageous lawsuits filed in the past year have been revealed at the annual Stella Awards held in the US this week. The awards take a light-hearted look at the civil litigation industry that now costs more than $247 billion a year — the equivalent of $825 per person in the US. They are named after Stella Liebeck of Albuquerque, New Mexico, who successfully sued McDonald’s for $2.86 million in 1992 after burning herself on coffee that was “too hot”.

Among the cases featured this year was the Washington lawyer who is suing the dry cleaners who lost his trousers for $65 million on the basis of “mental suffering, inconvenience and discomfort” and the woman who threw her drink at her boyfriend in a Philadelphia restaurant then slipped on the spilt liquid, broke her tailbone and successfully sued for $1,13,500.

The awards, which were set up seven years ago by California publisher and columnist Randy Cassingham, also include the case of Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma, who sued Winnebago for $1.75 million after she crashed her motor home at 70mph while making a sandwich. She argued the firm failed to inform her not to leave the wheel when she set it on cruise control.

Some lawyers are now warning that the number of frivolous lawsuits could even increase as the recession drives people to more inventive moneymaking methods.