Stella Awards - Is there any truth in this?

[flip_flop]

I strongly suspect not, but here goes;

First Place Stella Award winner was Mrs. Merv Grazinski,
of Oklahoma, who purchased a new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On her
first trip home from an OU football game, having driven onto the
freeway, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the
driver's seat to go to the back of the Winnebago to make herself a
sandwich. Not surprisingly, the motor home left the freeway, crashed and
overturned. Also not surprisingly, Mrs. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not
putting in the owner's manual that she couldn't actually leave the
driver's seat while the cruise control was set. The Oklahoma jury
awarded her, are you sitting down, $1,750,000 PLUS a new motor home.
Winnebago actually changed their manuals as a result of this suit, just
in case Mrs. Grazinski has any relatives who might also buy a motor
home.

[heathfield]

Urban Myth. First heard it years ago, when Mercedes brought out cruise control in their cars. An Arab in Dubai supposedly bought one, set the cruise control, proceeded to read a newspaper, and drove off a bridge.
For your Stella Prize story, and others, have a look here.

[Oneeyedvic]

There are true Stella Awards - http://www.stellaawards.com/ - however as pointed out the above one is a myth.

The real ones are bad enough withough having to resort to fiction.

[littleoldme]

I love this comment on the page where they talk about the case after which the awards are named, where Stella Liebeck successfully sued McDonald's after she spilt scalding coffee in her lap:

The National Coffee Association recommends coffee be brewed at "between 195-205 degrees Fahrenheit for optimal extraction" and drunk "immediately".

Down in one, perhaps?

[hundreddolla]

Darwin Awards > Stella Awards