[StBernard] True Stella Awards: 2007 Finals and Winner

[Westley Annis]

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Randy Cassingham's True Stella Awards #84                20 February 2008

---------------------= http://www.StellaAwards.com =---------------------

The TRUE Stella Awards -- 2007 Runners-Up and Winner
by Randy Cassingham

   Unlike the FAKE cases that have been highly circulated online for the
last several years (see http://www.StellaAwards.com/bogus.html for
details), the following cases have been researched from public sources
and are confirmed TRUE by the ONLY legitimate source for the Stella
Awards: http://www.StellaAwards.com . To confirm this copy is legitimate,
see http://www.StellaAwards.com/2007.html

   FEEL FREE TO FORWARD this issue -- it's allowed so long as you send it
in its entirety. MEDIA OUTLETS (including web sites and blogs!): Please
see http://www.StellaAwards.com/2007.html *BEFORE* running the awards as
that page has permission info, and will have any needed updates and
corrections.

                                    -v-

2007 Runners-Up and Winner:

#3: Sentry Insurance Company. The company provided worker's compensation
   insurance for a Wisconsin "Meals on Wheels" program. Delivering a
   meal, a MoW volunteer (who was allegedly not even wearing boots)
   slipped and fell on a participant's driveway that had been cleared of
   snow, and Sentry had to pay to care for her resulting injuries. Sentry
   wanted its money back, so it sued the 81-year-old homeowner getting
   the Meals on Wheels service. It could have simply filed for
   "subrogation" from her homeowner's insurance company, but by naming
   her in the action, it dragged an old lady into court, reinforcing the
   image of insurance companies as concerned only about the bottom line,
   not "protecting" policyholders from loss.

#2: The family of Robert Hornbeck. Hornbeck volunteered for the Army and
   served a stint in Iraq. After getting home, he got drunk, wandered
   into a hotel's service area (passing "DANGER" warning signs), crawled
   into an air conditioning unit, and was severely cut when the machinery
   activated. Unable to care for himself due to his drunkenness, he bled
   to death. A tragedy, to be sure, but one solely caused by a supposedly
   responsible adult with military training. Despite his irresponsible
   behavior -- and his perhaps criminal trespassing -- Hornbeck's family
   sued the hotel for $10 million, as if it's reasonably foreseeable that
   some drunk fool would ignore warning signs and climb into its heavy
   duty machinery to sleep off his bender.

But those pale in comparison to...

THE WINNER of the 2007 Stella Award: Roy L. Pearson Jr. The 57-year-old
   Administrative Law Judge from Washington DC claims that a dry cleaner
   lost a pair of his pants, so he sued the mom-and-pop business for
   $65,462,500. That's right: more than $65 million for one pair of
   pants. Representing himself, Judge Pearson cried in court over the
   loss of his pants, whining that there certainly isn't a more
   compelling case in the District archives. But the Superior Court judge
   wasn't moved: he called the case "vexatious litigation", scolded Judge
   Pearson for his "bad faith", and awarded damages to the dry cleaners.
   But Pearson didn't take no for an answer: he's appealing the decision.
   And he has plenty of time on his hands, since he was dismissed from
   his job. Last we heard, Pearson's appeal is still pending.

                                    -v-

TO CONFIRM THE VALIDITY OF THESE CASES, get more information on the True
   Stella Awards, or sign up for a free e-mail subscription to new cases
   as they are issued, see http://www.StellaAwards.com/2007.html

BLOGGERS AND WEB SITE OWNERS: http://www.StellaAwards.com/2007.html also
   links to a pre-formatted copy you can post online.

NOTE: If the summary doesn't state an outcome for a case, it's probably
   still pending. Unlike the fantasy world of the urban legend Stella
   Awards, in real life the courts are so clogged, and "justice" so slow,
   that it can take many years for a case to conclude. Sorry, but there
   are no pat endings in the real world. If YOU hear of an update, please
   DO send us a URL so we can update our readers. Thanks.

Copyright 2008 www.StellaAwards.com . This message may be forwarded as
   long as it remains complete and unaltered.


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COMMENTS AND LETTERS
by Randy Cassingham, Publisher

   We didn't even get through even HALF of our case backlog in 2007, but
looking through those cases there's pretty much no doubt that we would
have ended up with the same winner. And what a winner he is, too.

   "The True Stella Awards has often said that judges should work harder
to keep frivolous, and especially vexatious, suits out of the courts,"
the conclusion to the full October 2007 case write-up says. "How
shocking, then, to find a judge who not only brings such an action to
court himself, but keeps it going even in the face of unanimous
condemnation. The unanimous action by the Commission on Selection and
Tenure of Administrative Law Judges [to dismiss him] is heartening, but
now it's time for Judge Pearson to lose his license to practice law."

   So why didn't we get through more case write-ups? Just too busy. When
I started TSA in 2002 my main gig, the weird news weekly feature "This is
True" -- http://www.thisistrue.com -- was doing well. Six years later
it's doing VERY well, and taking up most of my time. Even with a couple
of attorneys to help me write up the case reports, they're busy too, and
even the three of us can't produce enough, even though there are PLENTY
of eligible cases to be featured. What I really need is some solid
proposals from a reputable organization who wants to take the newsletter
over. One that can not only handle getting case write-ups out more
frequently (and regularly), but one that also operates under the
philosophy TSA has run under from the start: no special interests, and no
proponents of one-fix-does-it-all band-aids; the problem isn't lawyers
(though they're a part of the problem), it isn't judges (though they're a
part of the problem), it isn't even just something-for-nothing plaintiffs
(though they're a part of the problem). It's a systemic, societal problem
that calls for a systemic, top-to-bottom solution -- as I discuss in my
book, still available at http://www.StellaAwards.com/book.html

   If that resonates with what your organization is doing, you know how
to reach me with serious proposals. The 95,000+ subscribers of this
newsletter are hungry for more information, more cases, more solutions.

                                    -v-

TO SUBSCRIBE and receive the TRUE Stella Awards by e-mail for FREE, see
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TO UNSUBSCRIBE, see the last line of this message.

YOUR COMMENTS are welcome -- send them to Comments at StellaAwards.com
   Please include your first name, location and profession. Due to volume
   we cannot reply to most mail, and NEVER provide legal advice. If you
   have legal questions, contact an attorney.
TO SUBMIT A CASE *please* do NOT e-mail us. Instead, please use the form
   on our site at http://www.StellaAwards.com/submit.html
SOURCE REFERENCES are kept up-to-date on our server as possible; the URLs
   given should work as long as the articles are available online. Some
   sites may require registration to view articles.

STELLA AWARDS is a project of "This is True" -- http://www.thisistrue.com
   -- and is published by ThisisTrue.Inc, PO Box 666, Ridgway CO 81432
    USA.

   Copyright 2008 by Randy Cassingham, All Rights Reserved. ALL
broadcast, publication, retransmission to the WWW, e-mail lists, or
paper, or copying or storage, in any medium, online or not, is PROHIBITED
without PRIOR written permission. However, permission is granted to
circulate this publication via MANUAL forwarding by e-mail to friends
PROVIDING THAT the text is forwarded IN ITS ENTIRETY, from the title line
on top through the end of this paragraph, and NO FEE is charged. We
REQUEST that you forward no more than three copies to any one person --
after that, they should get their own subscription. Stella Awards is a
trademark and "This is True" is a registered trademark of THISisTRUE.Inc.