Tom's brand new Stella Bubble

Unfortunately the bubble was burst on Tom's previous thread regarding the Stella Awards - totally bizarre cases involving outrageous successful compensation claims. In defence of Tom, whilst those particular examples may have been fiction, there are of course many true real life cases. The main difference is they are just not *quite* as outrageous as the fabricated ones.So here for your reading pleasure are totally true bona fide cases that reared their ugly heads in Australia:1. A man drank six beers and five bourbons then climbed onto the roof of an Inn after he was denied access to the downstairs nightclub. He was observed by the licensee to be peering through a window of the hotel's unit where the licensee lived with his wife and two children. The alarmed licensee then found the man in the licensee's laundry, whereupon he hit the man with a baton-like object.The man subsequently sought compensation for what he claimed was use of excessive force by the licensee. The man's mother also sued for compensation for nervous shock after seeing here son's injuries.The man was awarded $49,049 in damages and his mother received $18,578 in damages. The licensee has now lost his job and has been forced to move out of the residence he shared with his wife and two children for 11 years. The case cost him $108,000 in legal fees.2. I've already told you about the infamous Bondi Beach case. The one where a man went for a swim after a drink and dived into a sand bank. He broke his neck and became a paraplegic. He was awarded $3.75 million in damages.3. A former student was a victim of playground bullying. He sued the Education Department for failing to provide adequate supervision. He was awarded $1 million compensation.4. Twenty years after being the victim of "the strap" at college, the man said his received punishment was excessive and unreasonable. He was awarded $2.5 million, but his payout was reduced to *only* 2 million on appeal.5. A man sued a neighbouring business after a firecracker went off. He was awarded $208,000 for ensuing illness.You won't find any of these at http://www.snopes.com/legal/lawsuits.htm :-lol