Colorado Teens Fined for Giving Cookies to Neighbor
What is the world coming to? Sad state of affairs for sure when something like this happens.
From Yahoo! News
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.
Something that this particular article didn’t mention, but that I read elsewhere, was that the girls offered to pay the medical costs before the women filed suit. Obviously, the women decided to file suit anyway.
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Feb 5th, 2005 at 07:22:08
You know I was talking to someone the other night about all the frivolous lawsuits. Why dont we have money because we are spending it on lawyers and court fees and not on more important things.
Feb 5th, 2005 at 11:56:49
Absolutely ridiculous. If knocking on her door almost gave her a heart attack, maybe they should bang some drums or set off some firecrackers!!
Feb 5th, 2005 at 15:33:29
exactly. absolutely ridiculous. and the judge saying that 10:30 is kind of late for these girls to be out? that sounds like the judge’s justification for the medical damages. i can’t believe that she was even awarded that.
Feb 5th, 2005 at 15:56:10
If this frivolous judicial mishap bothers anyone reading this comment as much as it does me, write a letter to the following address (the office which appointed the judge) expressing your concerns and desire that the (inept, incompetent, immoral, unprincipled) judge in this case be stripped of his position. The precedent this ruling represents is completely inconsistent with the moral values and ideal of samaritanship that we should be instilling in our children.
Judicial Performance Commission c/o Steven W. Brittain, District Administrator Sixth Judicial District La Plata County Courthouse 1060 2nd Avenue Room #106 Durango, Colorado 81302
Apparently, you can send the girls a donation via the address listed in this thread: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1335950/posts?page=80#80
or contact one of the local news agencies in that area, I’m sure they can forward the donation
Feb 6th, 2005 at 10:32:59
A friend said that the woman should be sued for defimation of charector or something.
Mar 13th, 2005 at 18:47:06
This is a terrible example of what humanity is all about. How can someone with absolutely no grounds of being hurt win a lawsuit? People who are nice and kind to others get sued! What are people comming too? I think that the lady who brought the lawsuit aginst the girls should be sued for not being gracious enough for the gift that was given. I am just glad that she isn’t my neighbor and I have to see her everyday. YUK!
John
Mar 16th, 2008 at 19:33:01
This is so retarded! I hope the woman enjoys her stay in hell where she belongs! I heard that the family was receiving death threats over this.