----- Original Message ----- From: "J. van Baardwijk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, July 13, 2002 2:01 AM Subject: Re: Fw: [Seebergers] Stella Award Candidates
> At 16:57 12-07-2002 -0500, Robert Seeberger wrote: > > > > Now we have the Stella Awards, given to the individuals who win the > > > most frivolous lawsuits ever.The Stella Awards are named in honor of > > > 81-year-old Stella Liebeck, the woman who won $2.9 million for spilling > > > a cup of McDonald's coffee on her crotch. > > <snip nominations> > > See, that is exactly why the rest of the world thinks Americans are crazy. > You sue each other over the most ridiculous things, and then actually > manage to get awarded amounts of money that bare no relationship to the > actual damage. > > I am not familiar with what is considered "reasonable compensation" in > other countries, but over here in The Netherlands, we take great care NOT > to create an American situation. Many lawsuits that make it to US courts > are considered so ridiculous here that they will never even make it to > court (such as the lawsuits mentioned in the nominations for the Stella > Awards). Claims for millions of Euros certainly will not get awarded -- if > you win, you usually get awarded any real damages (medical expenses, loss > of income, cost of replacing/repairing damaged goods) plus perhaps a few > hundred Euros extra for the pain. IIRC, the highest amount ever awarded was > NLG 500,000 (at current rate, approx. $250,000). And that is an extremely > high amount by our standards. > You dont really think that *WE* are happy with this situation? We know it sucks! xponent The Rule Of Lawyers Maru rob
