this is an INCREDIBLE RV lawsuit story!

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keywester

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This won first place in a frivilous lawsuit competition....

1st Place:
This year's runaway winner was Mrs. Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.! Mrs. Grazinski purchased a brand new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On her first trip home, (from an OU football game), having driven onto , she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the driver's seat to go into the back & make herself a sandwich. Not surprisingly, the RV left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Mrs.Grazinski sued Winnebago for not advising her in the owner's manual that she couldn't actually do this. The jury awarded her $1,750,000. plus a new motor home. The company actually changed their manuals on the basis of this suit, just in case there were any other complete morons around.
 
I'm afraid this story has made the rounds for several years and so far I believe no one has been able to find any company who has had such a suit filed against them.
 
As we say, don't believe everything you read on the Internet. I wish I had $1 for every one of these stories that's come my way.
 
Yes, this story has been around for a long time in different versions.

One version of this is these Saudi Arabrains were going to air traffic controller school in Oklahoma City and bought an RV and on first trip out put it on cruise control and all went back to have lunch!

Bob
 
Go here:  http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/cruise.asp  if you want more on this legend.
 
People really should check these stories out at Snopes.com before posting them for the umpteenth time.  Nearly all of these are hoaxes, including this old one.
 
I have never heard of it, and now that I have think its hillarious.
Never one for the rumor mill though.
Still funny
 
Ned said:
People really should check these stories out at Snopes.com before posting them for the umpteenth time.  Nearly all of these are hoaxes, including this old one.

That goes for every e-mail you get that essentially says "forward this to everyone in your address book and something great will happen!"  Almost none of them are true, and Snopes.com has the history/explanation of them all.  Great site!  ;D

And FWIW, I too heard that RV story before.  Many years ago when I was a kid, and my dad was explaining was "cruise control" was used for and how this guy in an RV really misunderstood its capabilities.  The RV didn't overturn in the version I heard though, just drove straight out into a cornfield.  ;)
 
You may also like to visit The Stella Awards

"......The Stella Awards were inspired by Stella Liebeck. In 1992, Stella, then 79, spilled a cup of McDonald's coffee onto her lap, burning herself. A New Mexico jury awarded her $2.9 million in damages, but that's not the whole story. Ever since, the name "Stella Award" has been applied to any wild, outrageous, or ridiculous lawsuits -- including bogus cases! We search for true cases, and you can subscribe by e-mail for free to get the case reports as they're issued."

Paul
 
UK-RV said:
You may also like to visit The Stella Awards

"......The Stella Awards were inspired by Stella Liebeck. In 1992, Stella, then 79, spilled a cup of McDonald's coffee onto her lap, burning herself. A New Mexico jury awarded her $2.9 million in damages, but that's not the whole story. Ever since, the name "Stella Award" has been applied to any wild, outrageous, or ridiculous lawsuits -- including bogus cases! We search for true cases, and you can subscribe by e-mail for free to get the case reports as they're issued."

Paul


Ms. Liebeck was scalded badly enough by that coffee that she had to have reconstructive surgery done to her genitals.? Initially she went to McDonald's seeking something like $20K just to cover her medical expenses and they turned her down flat.? After her attorney sued it came out in court that McDonald's had a string of similar complaints over the years and their policy had been to ignore the complainers.? Because of McDonald's outrageous behavior in the matter the jury awarded Stella a sizeable award.

Say what you want to about tort reform in this nation, if anyone on this list had had their gonads literally boiled I doubt if they would think it was very funny.? Or ridiculous. :eek:



 
IMHO Stella is just another case of not taking responsibility for their own dumb actions.  She would be the first to complain if the coffee was not hot.  There are times when the legal system is just plain stupid when it comes to awards.
 
Pirate John

I'm sorry, but the damages set by the jury in the Stella case is a good example of tort lawyers running amok. Here is a woman who purposefully put a cup of coffee in her lap while she was driving. I would assume everyone knows that coffee is hot, and purchasers usually prefer it to be fairly hot, so now, because of this case, McDonalds delivers lukewarm coffee. Are you trying to say that Stella was too stupid to put hot coffee in her lap and that it was McDonald's responsibility to make sure that she didn't.
 
i once put on the cruise control on my motor home and took my foot of the gas pedal............
 
How about a flip side of the Stella story

My wife and I once pulled up to an A&W driving a small Sprite.  Got a large milk shake.  When it came on the tray it promply slid to the edge of the tray and dumped top down on my lap.  What do you do with 20oz of ice cream shake face down on your lap.  Eventually I had to pick up the cup.  Nothing frooze so I guess I couldn't sued.

::) ::) ::) ::) ::) ::)
 

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