You need to check here before believing any of these Stella Awards stories - http://www.snopes.com/legal/lawsuits.asp

But three friends have sent these:

1. Read the whole original Stella story here. A bit political but at least it's got the facts: -

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/8/1/141345/4615

2. Check out some real stories at http://www.stellaawards.com/. There's enough there in truth to make you wonder about human creativity...

Here's one:

book, page 80)

The tragic 20 February 2003 fire at the Station Nightclub in West Warwick, R.I., killed 96 people and injured more than 200. It was a stupid stunt: the band playing that night set off fireworks, setting fire to soundproofing foam. With the nightclub's insurance maxed out and no one else to turn to for the expected $1 billion of liability, lawyers in the case sued anyone they could think of in their search for deep pockets to pick. One unlikely victim of the tactic was Clear Channel Communications, which owns a radio station in the area, on the basis that they helped promote the event. In February, Clear Channel announced a tentative $22 million settlement with survivors and the families of those killed. Rhode Island's "joint and several liability" put Clear Channel on the hook; as long as lawyers could show just the tiniest involvement by the company, it ended up having to pay even though they had no part in the fire.

Other deep pockets included TV station WPRI, which was ironically on the scene to do a story on the dangers of nightclubs when the fire broke out, which paid $30 million on the theory that their cameraman's equipment blocked an exit. JBL Speakers paid $815,000 to settle a charge that its speakers had flammable foam in them; beer maker Anheuser-Busch ($5 million) and its local distributor ($16 million) because their beer was sold at the nightclub; Sealed Air Corp. paid $16 million, since its foam was used for soundproofing, even though the foam was not rated for such a purpose; the State of Rhode Island, $10 million, and the city where the fire occurred, $10 million, for who-knows-what reason; and Home Depot (amount unknown), where the foam was purchased. There were also criminal charges in the case; the band's manager and the nightclub's owners pleaded guilty and no-contest, respectively, to manslaughter charges.

SOURCES:

1) "Clear Channel, Fire Victims OK $22M Deal", Associated Press, 14 February 2008 http://StellaAwards.com/cgi-bin/redirect2.pl?108

2) "The Station Nightclub Fire", Wikipedia, retrieved 27 August 2007The TRUE Stella Awards -- 2007 Winners by Randy Cassingham Issued February 2008

3. And another:

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

-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.