The Stella Awards 2006: Celebrating America's Right to Frivolous Lawsuits

The True Stella Awards, are an honor given to those Americans whose lawsuits are outrageous, hilarious, and sometimes, actually taken seriously. Named after Stella Lieback, a 79 year-old woman who was burned after spilling a cup of McDonald's coffee in her lap. While the court of public opinion felt it was frivolous, Ms. Lieback did require 2 years of rehabilitation and skin grafts.

She also attempted to settle with McDonald's for $20,000 in medical expenses, but ended up having to file suit in court, where she was awarded $200,000 in compensatory damages and 2.9 million in punitive damages. The amounts were later reduced to $160,000 and $420,000, as she was found to be 20 percent at fault, but nonetheless, the name "Stella Awards" has stuck, for every lawsuit found to be outrageous by the American public.

The term The True Stella Awards refers to the website that has done the actual sleuthing to ensure the public that these suits are indeed real. Their website stellaawards.com showcases some real whammies in our justice system, and exposes some of the more popular false suits, including the woman who sued the maker of her Winnebago after leaving the wheel (set to cruise control) to eat and crashing the vehicle. According to stellaawards.com and snopes.com, this did not happen. So, here are the runner-ups and winner of the 2006 Stella Awards, as posted at stellaawards.com.

#5- Marcy Meckler

"While shopping at a mall, Meckler stepped outside and was "attacked" by a squirrel that lived among the trees and bushes. And "while frantically attempting to escape from the squirrel and detach it from her leg, [Meckler] fell and suffered severe injuries," her resulting lawsuit says. That's the mall's fault, the lawsuit claims, demanding in excess of $50,000, based on the mall's "failure to warn" her that squirrels live outside."

#4-Ron and Kristie Simmons