5 ways to tell you are living in the wrong place

Time once again to review the winners of the annual Stella Awards.

The Stellas are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck, who spilledcoffee on herself and successfully sued McDonald's. That case inspiredthe Stella awards for the most frivolous successful lawsuits in theUnited States.

Here are this year's winners:

5th Place (tie):Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas, was awarded $780,000 by a jury ofher peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who wasrunning inside a furniture store. The owners of the store wereunderstandably surprised at the verdict, considering the misbehavinglittle Toddler was Ms. Robertson's son.

5th Place (tie):19-year-old Carl Truman of Los Angeles won $74,000 and medical expenseswhen his neighbor ran over his hand with a Honda Accord. Mr. Truman apparently didn't notice there was someone at the wheel of the car while he was trying to steal his neighbor's hubcaps.

5th Place (tie):Terrence Dickson of Bristol, Pennsylvania, was leaving a house he hadjust finished robbing by way of the garage. He was not able to get thegarage door to go up since the automatic door opener was malfunctioning.He couldn't re-enter the house because the door connecting the house andgarage locked when he pulled it shut. The family was on vacation, andMr. Dickson found himself locked in the garage for eight days. Hesubsisted on a case of Pepsi he found, and a large bag of dry dog food.He sued the homeowner's insurance claiming the situation caused himundue mental anguish. The jury agreed to the tune of $500,000

4th Place: Jerry Williams of Little Rock, Arkansas, was awarded $14,500 andmedical expenses after being bitten on the rear end by his next doorneighbor's beagle. The beagle was on a chain in its owner's fenced yard.The award was less than sought because the jury felt the dog might havebeen just a little provoked at the time by Mr. Williams, who had climbed over the fence into the yard and was shooting it repeatedly with apellet gun.

3rd Place: A Philadelphia restaurant was ordered to pay Amber Carson, ofLancaster, Pennsylvania, $113,500 after she slipped on a soft drink andbroke her coccyx (tailbone). The beverage was on the floor because Ms.Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during anargument.

2nd Place: Kara Walton of Claymont, Delaware, successfully sued the owner of a night club in a neighboring city when she fell from the bathroom windowto the floor and knocked out her two front teeth. This occurred whileMs. Walton was trying to sneak through the window in the ladies room toavoid paying the $3.50 cover charge. She was awarded $12,000 and dental expenses.

1st Place:This year's runaway winner was Mrs. Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City,OK. Mrs. Grazinski purchased a brand new 32-foot Winnebago motor home.On her first trip home (from an OU football game), having driven ontothe freeway, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left thedrivers seat to go into the back & make herself a sandwich. Notsurprisingly, the RV left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Mrs.Grazinski sued Winnebago for not explaining in the owner's manual thatcruise control isn't automatic pilot. The jury awarded her $1,750,000 plus a new motor home.