Cookie klatch lands girls in court | Denver Post | 2.4.05
Durango – Two teenage girls decided one summer’s evening to skip a dance where there might be cursing and drinking to stay home and bake cookies for their neighbors.
Big mistake.
They were sued, successfully, for an unauthorized cookie drop on one porch. …
Outraged readers say cookie ruling was half-baked | Denver Post | 2.6.05
Hundreds of Denver Post readers e-mailed and called to express “shock” and “outrage” that two 18-year-old Durango girls were sued for something they did last summer: drop off a plate of cookies and a paper heart on a neighbor’s porch.
On that warm July 31 night, the pair, Taylor Ostergaard and Lindsey Zellitti, decided to skip a dance and, instead, bake cookies for neighbors. They knocked on doors, dropped off the cookies along with heart-shaped wishes that recipients “have a great night,” then ran away.
But when they rapped on one woman’s door, it turned out to be a knock heard ’round the world.
The woman said the pounding about 10:30 p.m. frightened her into an anxiety attack. A Durango judge Thursday awarded about $900 to the 49-year-old woman to cover some medical bills incurred when she ended up at the emergency room the next day. …
After a crumby ending, donated dough rolls in for 2 cookie deliverers | Denver Post | 2.6.05
Hundreds of Denver Post readers e-mailed and called to express “shock” and “outrage” that two 18-year-old Durango girls were sued for something they did last summer: drop off a plate of cookies and a paper heart on a neighbor’s porch.
Taylor Ostergaard and Lindsey Zellitti lost in Small Claims Court in La Plata County on Thursday…A Durango judge awarded about $900 to the 49-year-old woman to cover some medical bills incurred when she ended up at the emergency room the next day.
The Otis Spunkmeyer cookie- making company is offering to hold an event in Durango to set things right.
“Cookies are the ultimate comfort food,” Otis Spunkmeyer spokeswoman Liz Rayo said. “We don’t want anyone sued over cookies. Cookies are good. This is an emotional issue for us.” …
The judge awarded only $1 for damages, even though he could have given the plaintiff lost wages and the cost of new motion- sensor lights for her porch and more. She had itemized about $3,000 in all. …
No good deed goes unpunished! Shame on the plaintiff and judicial system!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Aah, but you miss the point.
Shame is an outdated idea. To paraphrase that great writer, PJ O'Rourke, “To lean that a celebrity is a drug addict, pervert and adulterer is to have read their autobiography” is it any wonder that shame is dead as a motivating force?
Money is now the prime motivator, and more's the pity.
There's a small-claims court judge who should be rightfully villified for this crap. As it was small-claims court, there were probably no lawyers around to collect the crumbs (pun intended).
Aah, but you miss the point.
Shame is an outdated idea. To paraphrase that great writer, PJ O’Rourke, “To lean that a celebrity is a drug addict, pervert and adulterer is to have read their autobiography” is it any wonder that shame is dead as a motivating force?
Money is now the prime motivator, and more’s the pity.
There’s a small-claims court judge who should be rightfully villified for this crap. As it was small-claims court, there were probably no lawyers around to collect the crumbs (pun intended).