Page 1 of 2
Disgusting
Posted:
Sun Feb 06, 2005 2:01 amby Scorpiоn
DURANGO, Colo. (Reuters) - A Colorado judge ordered two teen-age girls to pay about $900 for the distress a neighbor said they caused by giving her home-made cookies adorned with paper hearts.
The pair were ordered to pay $871.70 plus $39 in court costs after neighbor Wanita Renea Young, 49, filed a lawsuit complaining that the unsolicited cookies, left at her house after the girls knocked on her door, had triggered an anxiety attack that sent her to the hospital the next day.
Taylor Ostergaard, then 17, and Lindsey Jo Zellitte, 18, paid the judgment on Thursday after a small claims court ruling by La Plata County Court Judge Doug Walker, a court clerk said on Friday.
The girls baked cookies as a surprise for several of their rural Colorado neighbors on July 31 and dropped off small batches on their porches, accompanied by red or pink paper hearts and the message: "Have a great night."
The Denver Post newspaper reported on Friday that the girls had decided to stay home and bake the cookies rather than go to a dance where there might be cursing and drinking.
It reported that six neighbors wrote letters entered as evidence in the case thanking the girls for the cookies.
But Young said she was frightened because the two had knocked on her door at about 10:30 p.m. and run off after leaving the cookies.
She went to a hospital emergency room the next day, fearing that she had suffered a heart attack, court records said.
The judge awarded Young her medical costs, but did not award punitive damages. He said he did not think the girls had acted maliciously but that 10:30 was fairly late at night for them to be out.
It's people like this that make the world a cold, hard, miserable place to be.
Perhaps we should shoot anyone who goves birthday presents as well. :-/
Re: Disgusting
Posted:
Sun Feb 06, 2005 3:26 amby Smoke2much
I'm speechless.
Re: Disgusting
Posted:
Sun Feb 06, 2005 3:35 amby Hagar
I have very mixed feelings on this. Yes, it's sad that this charming gesture was misinterpreted. I know from experience that elderly people are genuinely afraid of visitors after dark, especially if they live alone. I would think twice about ringing my neighbour's doorbell after a certain time in the evening. It might have been a better idea for these girls to have got to know their neighbours a little better first. This is more a reflection on our "civilised" society as a whole & I suspect it will get worse before it improves, if it ever does. The spirit of neighbourliness has long since disappeared & people are suspicious of what once would have been a perfectly normal gesture.
I don't think it was necessary to take them to court over this but as they were they should have been let off with a caution. However I'm not a judge or a lawyer.
Re: Disgusting
Posted:
Sun Feb 06, 2005 3:54 amby ATI_7500
The downfall of modern society. I'd be glad if our stupid race disappears in one hundred years or so...
Re: Disgusting
Posted:
Sun Feb 06, 2005 4:56 amby 767-300er
The downfall of modern society. I'd be glad if our stupid race disappears in one hundred years or so...
Oh, what do you care, you'll be dead in a hundred years...
Having said that, if this was me, I wouldn't of paid the judgement, I would appeal. I would get one of those sleazy lawyers and drag her ass through court...
Re: Disgusting
Posted:
Sun Feb 06, 2005 6:03 amby Paz
~
Posted:
Sun Feb 06, 2005 6:35 amby Scorpiоn
Actually, that's quite a case there. "Loss of Revenue"
I suppose this whole thing puts an exclamation point on "Shooting the good samaritan".
~
Posted:
Sun Feb 06, 2005 6:37 amby Scorpiоn
As a horrible tangent, isn't "The pair were ordered to pay $871.70" incorrect? Shouldn't it be "The pair was ordered to pay $871.70"?
Re: Disgusting
Posted:
Sun Feb 06, 2005 7:05 amby Clipper
I think we're all missing the real issue concerning this story. I wonder if even the judge had the presence of mind to determine the most important issue to this really perplexing moral dilemma....Did the old woman eat the cookies?...and if so did she drink warm milk at the same time. Point being, some people take life way too seriously. Opportunism has become a way of the western world. With all the hardship and misery going on in so much of the world, it seems shameful and embarassing that our society would prey on each other so readily. These leeches of society are the last kind of people I would want around when and if (god forbid) a real disaster struck and I needed help. But all isn't lost. For every nauseating story like this one, there's another one unfolding showing people at their best. There are still people out there who care. Some, even, have retained and live by old fahioned values. The frightening part is these kind of people, particulary in our society, are a dying breed.
Re: Disgusting
Posted:
Sun Feb 06, 2005 10:04 amby Jared
man that's just wrong...
Yes they should've stayed with the cookies until after shehad answered the door, and they shouldn't have been out that late...
but come on!!!!
Re: Disgusting
Posted:
Sun Feb 06, 2005 2:30 pmby beaky
All this talk about lawsuits and scary cookies is making me anxious...having trouble breathing... I'm gonna sue all of you (wheeze!)!!
Heinlein was right: these are "The Crazy Years". Sadly,like him, I think things are going to get a lot worse before they get better...
Re: Disgusting
Posted:
Sun Feb 06, 2005 2:58 pmby Smoke2much
Maybe they should sue the judge for making such a foolish judgement, or maybe their lawyer for losing the case.
Now there's an entertaining thought :-/
Re: Disgusting
Posted:
Sun Feb 06, 2005 5:24 pmby Triple_7
Maybe they should sue the judge for making such a foolish judgement, or maybe their lawyer for losing the case.
Now there's an entertaining thought :-/
Sad thing is its probly already been tried and wouldnt surprise me if at least one has had a dumb outcome :-/
Re: Disgusting
Posted:
Sun Feb 06, 2005 5:32 pmby TacitBlue
Well, I guess that'll teach them to be nice to people. :-/
Hey, Ive got an idea, why dont we start our own country?
Re: Disgusting
Posted:
Sun Feb 06, 2005 8:41 pmby beefhole
