how's this for neighborly love
 

alright, yeah it's a cut and paste job.. but I'm running late and such. this just strikes me though as one of those 'how low can a society go?' and 'wanna talk about silly lawsuits?' sort of topics.

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.


the thing I'm curious about.. is why did this woman freak out? some paper heart phobia? I mean I hate Valentines day too.. but geez.. the woman must have just Grinched-out or something

My understanding is she never went to her door and saw the cookies at all. They knocked, she called out, "Who's there?," they giggled and ran away, she decided she'd just scared off a giggling rapist/murderer, and worked herself into heart palpitations for the rest of the night.

I suppose I can understand a woman alone in a rural area becoming frightened by a mysterious knocking on her door late at night. I wonder if she called the sheriff's department? I would think that having a couple of husky young deputies come out and check around the premises only to find a plate of cookies would have gone a long way toward preventing this woman's anxiety attack. What I also don't understand is why this woman would feel the need to sue these two girls after she discovered what was really going on. It doesn't sound as those the girls meant any harm. They may have made an error in judgement running around knocking on people's doors at that late an hour, but at least they weren't out vandalizing property or drinking and driving. At most, the judge should have told the girls to write the woman an apology for not considering how such late activities might impact someone who had no idea what was happening. Having the kids pay damages is ridiculous. :eyebrow:

OR....

cookies left on your doorstep might be viewed as a death threat by this particular old ladies' people. like a horse head in your bed, or a fish in your desk drawer.

OR.....she's an evil old bitch that should burn in hell....

i can't decide

If either one of those girls were my daughter, I'd leave something on that old bitch's doorstep that she'd never forget.

Whatever happened to leaving bags of burning shit on the doorstep?

Anybody else amused that the girls ended up charged and fined after having declined to go to a dance where drinking and cursing might occur?

What, precisely, does qualify as "good clean fun" these days.

I certainly hope they appeal the drive by cookie-ing conviction. That could affect their future employment opportunities.

Of course, they can still get jobs as lovely wives and helpmeets, but if they want to do anything else, they might run into some problems. Oh wait. The article isn't clear. This might have been a civil court proceeding.

The kids can come over to my place. I'll help them acquire a taste for single malt Scotch. It goes against the drinking business, but I wouldn't swear or sue them. Two out of three ain't bad. :cool:

Oh wait. The article isn't clear. This might have been a civil court proceeding.

I thought there was no such thing as "punitive damages" (which are mentioned as not being awarded) in a criminal court?

The words "jury awarded" indicate that this was a civil case. Honestly, I don't understand how a teenager can be sued for anything since they cannot be held liable for their actions other than those implicitly or explicitly enumerated in the applicable penal codes. In other words, if they didn't break a specific law, I don't understand how they can be held accountable for their actions when they are younger than the age of contractual consent.

Depends on what that age is in Colorado, I suppose.

All the woman had to do is prove costs and responsibility to collect, no criminal charges. :)

So, if I live in an apartment adjacent to a person who (out of irrefutable medical necessity) slams a pencil into her neck every time she hears the toilet flush that **I**, therefore, am responsible for this psycho dingbat's medical bills?

That approaches the Buddha state of abdication of responsibilty.

That approaches the Colorado state of abdication of responsibilty. ;)

That's fucking ridiculous.

Remind me never to move to Colorado.

Stupid knows no boundaries.

My neighbors left a homemade CD of Christmas music in my mailbox over the holidays. I'm sure it was well-intentioned, but if there's anything that calls for a lawsuit, it's Christmas music.

Happily, a local radio station is paying the judgement, so the girls are off the hook.
I wonder if she realizes that it's her reaction that never should have happened, and not the girls' action.

Bur really, f'real--
 

She coulda died!

What if our freaked Granny had popped open the door and shot them? Found them hiding in the shrubs?

I think we need an immediate study of the effects of cookie gifting on the elderly.

No, no. I'm not elderly yet. We need a study of the effects of cookie gifting on males in their late twenties.

I'm guessing weight gain.

with a crap attitude like hers, maybe she should have.

for the record...
 

She will. You too. And me.

By the way, what's "crap" about being afraid?

"Crap" is suing two girls for giving you free cookies.

i've been startled before. i've been scared before. i've been pissed off about little girl scouts waking me up on a saturday morning with their cookie selling efforts. i've never thought about suing someone over a case of nerves.

whatever family members encouraged the old lady in this and whatever attorney took the case on should be pummeled with baseball bats.

Small claims is typically approached without an attorney, isn't it? Of course you can consult one, but you don't take them into court with you ...

The biased judge ought to be defrocked and disbarred. What the hell difference does it make how late they were out? The lady in question didn't even know how old they were, so that's completely and totally irrelevant.

I read a write up of this in our Sunday paper. Apparently, once this news hit the wires, a lot of donations have come in from across the country. The teenage girls now have enough money to pay the insane judgement, and they are donating all extra money to local hospitals. I impressed with how good these teenagers are.