Cookies Cause Anxiety Attack . . . Blame the Girls ; Thank the Justice System

[bluehybrid69]

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.

I cannot believe that this is even happening in our world. Some cute and innocent teens thought to bake some cookies for their neightbors and yet because this old bag had a anxiety attack the girls have to pay almost $900. The judge and old lady better not be expecting any girls scouts anytime soon. Plain just sad.

[axisoftime]

Yeh,a real crime there!lol. But i guess even greatly indirectly,they were the cause of her attack.I wonder if the neighbors who wrote the favorable letters pitched in to help pay the fine.Guess it does seem like the neighbor should have paid at least half.

[KJK]

*just shakes his head*

[Power Wisdom Courage]

Damn!!!
Where's Clark When You Need Him?
Think Of All The Trouble That Could Have been Stopped, Had Superman Actually Been There...
That is one of the most absurd things i have ever heard...

Jeff Wears Birkenstocks

[ferd]

We live in a sick world, ya know??

**seriously re-thinking the time I dressed up as the Easter Bunny and knocked on my family members doors the night before Easter to tell the "Happy Easter" and scared a few of them to death**

[Power Wisdom Courage]

Wow!!!
I can see the headlines Easter Bunny Scares Unsuspecting Victims, SWAT team called in to investigate, News At Eleven
I'm just glad you weren't dressed like Santa Claus, i could already sense the angry mob, complete with pitchforks and torches...

Lori Meyers

[bluehybrid69]

Originally posted by Power Wisdom Courage
Wow!!!
I can see the headlines Easter Bunny Scares Unsuspecting Victims, SWAT team called in to investigate, News At Eleven
I'm just glad you weren't dressed like Santa Claus, i could already sense the angry mob, complete with pitchforks and torches...

Lori Meyers

LMAO!!

[angelfire east]

I just don't have words for how wrong that is.

That will show any teens trying to do a nice thing, don't go to the party instead and get drank and curse :rolleyes:

I just can't believe some people, it's sick, really sick.

[the panther]

First off, if she really thought she'd had a heart attack, she would have called a bloody ambulance.

Bloody old hag.

I can't believe this is what happens in this world.

[Sharkie]

Man, two girls do a nice thing for their neighbors and they get sued? That is DUCKED UP!

Besides, how can anyone have a heart attack over a cookie?

[the panther]

She probably thought it was poisoned. :lol:

[Sharkie]

I can't believe the judge even heard the case. I'd have said "Leave me alone, I got real cases you old bag of bones." Either that or I'd reward 1 million dollars to those nice girls for baking cookies!

[SMLVLFAN89]

Thats insane. Now she'll start complaining that teens are always out causing trouble. And that will give her an anxiety attack too. :rolleyes:

And who voted yes? :lol:

[Maniac in the Porsche]

:rotfl:
This is hilarious & it could have been me :lol: although I don't go places that late.

But at church when I was a teen our leader had a plan "heart attacks" Seriously, for Valentines Day we made cookies with paper hearts that read, "This is a heart attack: you are loved" & we gave them to widows & old folks, etc.

:rotfl:

That's funny

[VersesBatman]

And people wonder why the world is getting to be such a crummy place to live in.

[Chi Town]

What was also left out of this version was the fact that the family had offered to pay the medical bills before this went to court. The lady deceided that the apology was insincere and drag it into court.
So not only did the girls bake the cookies, offer to pay the bills but had to be dragged into court over it. The lady was just mean and vindictive. next thing you know she will sue over emotional distress to.

I got it off of CNN.

[VersesBatman]

I bet she's an ambulance chaser.

[SailorV]

She probably makes her living suing people. I HATE people who do that. Reminds me of this one girl I used to work with.. GAH. How frustrating.

They shouldn't have left the cookies so late though. They were probably just goofing around without thinking about it first. Maybe that lady used to have a stalker, so cookies scare her so much she has panic attacks... hahaha. No, that is so lame. It's hard to argue in her favor. What a $#@%.

[VersesBatman]

I don't know who I'm more mad at, the woman who sued or the judge who sentanced those girls.

Looks like the girls won't have to pay the fine after all.

http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNAME=KUSA&IKOBJECTID=e3cf0639-0abe-421a-00d2-832b5478fd7b&TEMPLATEID=0c76dce6-ac1f-02d8-0047-c589c01ca7bf

[j03superbat]

I do think it's odd that the kids were handing out cookies at 10 at night, but that's no reason for an old lady to go and sue them.

[Sharkie]

That woman is 49... What a wacko. I hope she has a horrible life.

[bluehybrid69]

I am so glad that the girls dont have to pay the bills. VersusBatman thanks for the link up. She wonders why people are making harassing phone calls, and getting threatened. What a psychob****. She was scared. The innocent girls got caught doing something nice, and this is the reward. If I had the number of the lady too I would be calling too and saying how she wanted some teens to pay almost $1000. I am a young adult and that is tough for myself, let alone teens in HS. Really sad . . . for the girls, not for the psycholady.

* Who voted yes . . .

[Maniac in the Porsche]

I wish someone would ring my doorbell & give me some cookies :p

Come on, get real, lady.


Originally posted by bluehybrid69
* Who voted yes . . .
Either an old lady who hates cookies or I think it's someone just being silly???

I voted for Pedro & I voted no on this poll.

[Smallvillenews]

I think that is totally ridiculous. What is the world coming to when 2 innocent young girls can't try to spread some happiness in their neighbourhood without getting dragged to court and sued???? Why would anyone drop of fresh baked heart cookies and wish someone a good evening if they were trying to upset them?? I'd be thrilled if someone did that for me! What a crazy unkind woman, especially since one of the girls parents are saying the woman's husband keeps harrassing them now with phone calls. It sounds like they are the psycho's who need to be sued!

I'm glad that the girls don't have to pay the fine.

[Sharkie]

"The victory wasn't sweet," Young said. "I'm not gloating about it. I just hope the girls learned a lesson."

What lesson is she trying to get them to learn? Being nice is bad!?!

[bluehybrid69]

Originally posted by Sharkie
"The victory wasn't sweet," Young said. "I'm not gloating about it. I just hope the girls learned a lesson."

What lesson is she trying to get them to learn? Being nice is bad!?!

An they wonder why people say this is a sick world. Girls who were just trying to be nice got a nice field trip to the court system and how it works.

[M.D.]

I voted yes, because I initially gave the old woman a benefit of the doubt (didnt realize the family had offered to pay her medical bills before she dragged them to court). My reasoning was we should take responsibility for even unintended consequences. What if they had baked peanut butter cookies, and someone was allergic to peanuts and went into shock and had to go to the hospital? Same issue, and I would hope the girls took responsibility for that as well, although that person was stupid for eating a cookie left on their doorstep.

But after finding out that the family had already offered to pay, and the old hag drug it to court, I think that the girls shouldn't have to pay, as suing someone to get more money than that is aweful.

And about someone immediately going to the ER if they thought they had a heart attack... Some people can't really recognize symptoms, or want to wait and see if it goes away and think that treatment can wait until its more convenient. People wait to go to the ER until after their workshift is over all the time, even if they had a heart attack.

[Unbreakable Lex]

Originally posted by M.D.
I voted yes, because I initially gave the old woman a benefit of the doubt (didnt realize the family had offered to pay her medical bills before she dragged them to court). My reasoning was we should take responsibility for even unintended consequences. What if they had baked peanut butter cookies, and someone was allergic to peanuts and went into shock and had to go to the hospital? Same issue, and I would hope the girls took responsibility for that as well, although that person was stupid for eating a cookie left on their doorstep.


That’s why the worlds the way it is. Good Samaritans get punished. I shoveled all of my neighbor’s sidewalks the other day and probably shouldn’t have. What if I left a patch of ice and they slipped and broke their necks. Just stay home, don't talk to anyone and pray to get through the day. It’s just sad.

[M.D.]

Doing the right thing never means getting a ride on easy street. Doing the right thing always means taking the chance something can drastically go wrong.

[axisoftime]

Originally posted by Unbreakable Lex
That’s why the worlds the way it is. Good Samaritans get punished. I shoveled all of my neighbor’s sidewalks the other day and probably shouldn’t have. What if I left a patch of ice and they slipped and broke their necks. Just stay home, don't talk to anyone and pray to get through the day. It’s just sad.

Well Put!

[MyOwnSuperhero]

It's Girl Scout cookie time right? I sense disaster approaching!

[Maniac in the Porsche]

if she doesn't like cookies, maybe her neighbors should ring & run leaving a bag of doogie doo that is on fire instead :lol:

*has never actually done this, but apparently, it's terrible when people stomp on it to put the fire out* :p

[smallvilleobsessor17]

Originally posted by bluehybrid69
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.

I cannot believe that this is even happening in our world. Some cute and innocent teens thought to bake some cookies for their neightbors and yet because this old bag had a anxiety attack the girls have to pay almost $900. The judge and old lady better not be expecting any girls scouts anytime soon. Plain just sad.

OMG.....that's terrible!

[Randy G.]

Wanita needs to choke on a cookie, with chunks of doggie poo in it. :lol:

[Chlarkerlover]

:rotfl: Yeah. and worms. :p

[maryjanewatson]

well, I'm glad they got those girls! I'm glad they are enforcing the justice system on those COOKIE BAKING FIENDS!!!! why, cookie fiends are right up there with murderers and rapist, i tell you what! what were they even thinking when they made those cookies. don't they have a consience?? scandelous.



seriously though, that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard.

well kids, let that be a lesson to you. when you do something nice for someone, you get sued.