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The Stella Awards are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck, who spilled coffee on herself and successfully sued McDonalds. Stella Awards are given out each year for the most frivolous successful lawsuits in the U.S. However, there’s a twist: for some reason, both real and fake Stellas are announced annually, and we present both lists here. The true Stellas have their own website. Keep reading to find out what really happened in U.S. law courts in 2002.
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Remember the Apache helicopter that was supposedly shot down by an Iraqi farmer in the early days of the Iraq war? The fact that Saddam mentioned this in a video tape was used as proof that he was still alive and wasn’t killed by the early bombing of his bunker. Now it turns out the incident never happened?the farmer simply discovered the downed helicopter lying in his field.
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Two British microbiologists say SARS may have come from space, riding on a comet. Microbiologist Dr. Milton Wainwright says, “Several aspects of the SARS outbreak appear to fit this general scheme.”

Debris from a comet, including the SARS virus, could have arrived in the stratosphere. It would have reached the Himalayas, whose high peaks are on the edge of the stratosphere, where particles would then descend to Earth. Then the Earth’s rotation and prevailing winds could have blown the virus into China. A recent study of the atmosphere 25 miles into space shows that about a ton of biological material arrives from space every day.
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Intelligence officials say al-Qaeda no longer has the power it had during 911. It’s split into two competing groups?one of which is operating in Iran and is in contact with with Osama bin Laden, who is believed to be hiding along Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan. Saad bin Laden, one of Osama’s sons, is one of the leaders of that group. In a recent intercepted communication, Osama bin Laden says he’s unhappy that al-Qaeda failed to attack U.S. interests during the war in Iraq. This failure may indicate that al-Qaeda can conduct small scale suicide attacks, but they can’t carry out another 911. However, cells of the Shi’ite terrorist organization Hezbollah are deeply entrenched in the U.S. and may become more dangerous than al-Qaeda.
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