That was an early morning, but it was totally worth it. Dricus is still champion of the world and all is well, with the spectacular experience along the way of the Afrikaans ringside translator confirming once and for all that there is no English word for moer.

Moer is a werkwoord, a sport and in many cases, a lifestyle. With UFC surely coming to South Africa at some point, the obvious choice is a venue steeped in history of the essence of moer: the Loftus carpark.

Something that frequently leads to a deep desire to moer someone is international travel. The destination is the reward. The journey is painful, with all the joys of airports and passport control along the way. As a country, we are incredible at punching above our weight on the global stage, except when it comes to our passports. Those green mambas are far less effective than the snakes they are named after.

This week, Dominique Olivier came across a story that the Salzburg airport in Austria has a helpdesk for travellers who accidentally wound up there instead of Australia. Obviously, the comedy here is in the notion that this mix-up happens so frequently that a permanently-staffed helpdesk is required. Alas, a bit of research revealed that this story is not actually true.

Well, not fully, anyway.

There was a sign at the Salzburg airport informing travellers about the helpdesk, but it was actually part of an ad campaign by tech company Commend. They clearly did too good a job of landing their point here, as many travellers seeing the sign thought the helpdesk was real!

Research, hey? Sometimes it takes all the fun out of things, but it's still important.

On the topic of research, Dominique has written a terrific piece on four kick-ass women to celebrate Women's Month. Journalist Elizabeth Cochrane, political activist Wangari Maathai, musician and literacy enthusiast Dolly Parton and athlete Allyson Felix all feature in this great read. The way Felix gave Nike a bloody nose for their policies is particularly good. Read it here>>>

Read on for tales of frivolous lawsuits in North America, the litigation capital of the world, with Dominique covering the background to the Stella Awards and giving examples of famous cases in the Fast Facts.

Have a great Sunday and don't moer anyone!

The Finance Ghost (follow on X) | Dominique Olivier (connect on LinkedIn)

TL;DR: Named after Stella Liebeck, the Stella Awards are a series of fictional awards that recognise the most frivolous lawsuits in North America. 

It all started in 1994, when a 79-year-old woman named Stella Liebeck bought an ordinary cup of coffee in a McDonald’s drive-thru. Her grandson, who was driving the vehicle, pulled over so that she could add cream and sugar to her coffee. Since the Ford Probe that they were in had no cupholders, Stella held the cup between her knees and attempted to remove the lid in order to open it. Instead, she managed to spill the entire cup of scalding hot coffee onto her groin, resulting in third-degree burns.

Pinning the blame for the incident squarely on the makers of the coffee (but for some reason not the makers of the cupholder-less car), Liebeck sought to settle with McDonald's for $20,000 to cover her actual and anticipated expenses. McDonald's offered only $800. Incensed, Stella turned to Texas attorney Reed Morgan. Morgan filed suit in the US District Court, accusing McDonald's of gross negligence for selling coffee that was "unreasonably dangerous" and "defectively manufactured".

Long story short - after months in court, a jury found that McDonald's was 80% responsible for the incident and Liebeck was 20% at fault (10% for each knee?). They awarded Liebeck $200,000 in compensatory damages, which was reduced by 20% to $160,000. In addition, they awarded her $2.7 million in punitive damages. Stella’s case has since become the poster child of excessive lawsuits, with the colloquial term “Stella Awards” widely used to describe cases where the payouts are large and the justice is… well, questionable.

(For a list of her favourite examples of Stella Award “winners”, see Dominique's Fast Facts below!)
 

An assortment of facts that will take you only a minute to read.

1. Attorney Philip Shafer from Ashland, Ohio, claims that on a Delta flight from New Orleans to Cincinnati in 2002, he was seated next to a very fat man. This apparently caused him “embarrassment, discomfort, and emotional distress”. Shafer sued Delta for $9,500 but said he’s open to settling out of court. Shafer passed away in 2020, so we don't know how it would've ended.

2. Rosemary Aquavia, a secretary for the mayor of Naugatuck, Connecticut, was reprimanded for allegedly using an office fax machine for personal use. Instead of accepting the warning, she filed a federal lawsuit claiming her First Amendment rights were violated. Surprisingly, the case went to trial, where a jury agreed the reprimand was too harsh and awarded her a grand total of one cent in compensation. Unsatisfied, Aquavia appealed, asking for the damages to be increased… to one dollar. The judge denied her request. The whole ordeal took three years and cost Aquavia $5,000 in legal fees. Still a better investment than Steinhoff?

3. In 1994, Frank Lucisano from Tullytown, Pennsylvania, shot an intruder who was trying to break into a shed on his property. The District Attorney deemed the shooting justified since Lucisano was defending himself against a felony. However, the burglar’s mother, Dorothy Reid, sued Lucisano in 1996, claiming her son was shot without provocation. After years of legal battles, both sides agreed to arbitration. The arbitrator ruled that the shooting was intentional and awarded the burglar’s family $50,000. Crime can pay, apparently.

4. In Florida, it's common to have to watch out for alligators, but Darlene Griffin had a different encounter. While at Okeeheelee Park in West Palm Beach, she was "attacked" by a goose. To protect her young son, she jumped between him and the bird, but ended up falling and breaking her tailbone when the goose tried to bite her. Now, she's suing Palm Beach County for letting geese roam free in the park and is asking for at least $15,000 to cover her medical bills and the distress she suffered. Our resident Ghost will need to be more careful of the geese at his next golf game.