The Seattle Times: Nation & World: Gift of cookies crumbles; girls told to pay $900 — Exactly how the courts can rationalize encouraging anti-social behavior as exhibited by a freaky neighbor is mystifying. She needs a psychiatrist, not an attorney to help her. This story is just sad. Welcome to the 21st century.
DURANGO, Colo. — Two teenage girls who surprised their neighbors with homemade cookies late one night were ordered to pay nearly $900 in medical bills for a woman who says she was so startled that she had to go to the hospital.
Judge Doug Walker declined Thursday to award punitive damages, saying he did not believe the girls acted maliciously.
Taylor Ostergaard, 17, and Lindsey Jo Zellitti, 18, baked the chocolate-chip and sugar cookies one night in July. They made packages with a half-dozen cookies each and added large red or pink construction-paper hearts that carried the message “Have a great night” and were signed with their first initials: “Love, The T and L Club.” They then set off to make their deliveries.
Wanita Renea Young, 49, said she was at her rural home south of Durango around 10:30 p.m. when she said she saw “shadowy figures” outside the house banging repeatedly on her door. She yelled, “Who’s there?” but no one answered, and the figures ran away.
Frightened, she spent the night at her sister’s home, then went to the hospital the next morning because she still was shaking and had an upset stomach.
The teenagers’ families offered to pay Young’s medical bills, but she declined and sued, saying their apologies were not sincere and were not offered in person.
And if they refuse to pay? Then what? Jail? A lien on the parent’s home? Execution? If ’twere I, the temptation to find out would be nearly overwhelming.
Oh – my – god. Someone should sue this woman for being such a b!tch. Two teenagers actually go out of their way to do something nice for their neighbours and they get sued for it. Only in the States. And I’d imagine she’d be just the kind of person who would badmouth the “youth of today” too. That’s right – handing out cookies, it’s sinester. In my day teenagers just drank and got pregnant.
I think in Canada the jugde would have laughed that lady out of court. Of course she undoubtedly would have been traumatized by that and sued him too.
There also a pretty significant number of reasonable, friendly folks living in Durango. Outdoor life is stunning, the fishing and hunting is fine, mountain biking rules.
Neurotics live everywhere. So do incompetent judges.
I’ve been blogging about this warped American justice since Friday.
– Morons.org has links to the addresses of the Judge and 49 year old cookie monster
– The DenverPost has an EZ-message board – read what reader have to say
– Yesterday, the cookie makers were on GMA
– Leno wants the teens on his show
– Denver radio station KOA-AM rasied $1,900 to pay the court award
– Otis Spunkmeyer, a cookie-making company, is offering to hold an event in the girls home town
– The father of one of the girls has obtained a temporary restraining order against Young’s husband to stop harassing telephone calls
We have a new grinch on the block ….
Wait…Jack, that woman (the cookie grinch) is MARRIED? Where in the *ell was he that night? Out drinking, or did he have toilet paper stuffed in his ears to not hear the nagging?
Geez, changes a lot when it goes from some 49 year old dingbat, to a couple of complainers. Too bad we can’t vote neighbors off the block.
I live in Berkeley, and I thought that I HAD IT BAD here!
I don’t think this woman knows what she’s in for. SHe should be the one doing the apologizing.
I just don’t see how the alleged result of the girls’ giving cookies was foreseeable. If I practiced out in Colorado I’d certain appeal the decision for the girls. They were screwed and the judge should be removed from the bench.
Two teenagers delivering cookies at 10:30pm and banging on the door? Why were they so desperate to get the cookies to a neighbor? If they were friends with the 49 year old then it would never have reached the courts, which concludes they were not friends. Then you have to ask why a 17 and 18 year old would spend an evening baking cookies and insisting that their neighbor receive them at such a late hour? Sounds like those two girls were pulling some kind of prank. The judgement is fair.
david, what prank were they pulling? You’re speculating about a prank, but there is NO evidence of a prank! And the reason why they did it so late was stated, they wanted it to be a surprise.
Haven’t you ever done something nice for someone anonymously?
Ima, no one knows what really happened except for the teenage girls and the neighbor. In order to get to the truth you would have to probe both parties by questioning them and hope they reply TRUTHFULLY. Unfortunately, anyone who has served as a juror will know people will LIE to escape culpability or to gain monetary rewards. The lawyers on both sides in a trial don’t seek the truth, they seek a VICTORY. Add to that, that there could just have been a misunderstanding and you have a recipe for disaster. All I can do is to try to make sense of the situation from my experience in living. The first thing I do in trying to figure something out is to put myself in that person’s shoes. So, if I was 17 years old why would I want to bake cookies with my friend for a neighbor when I could be watching TV or yapping on the phone or playing video games. Then go “banging” on her door at 10:30 PM and run off *with* the cookies when she yelled “who’s there?” One reason I would bake cookies would to be to thank her for something nice she did. There was no mention by the teenagers that that happened. Another reason would be to just be friendly with a neighbor. But why be friendly at night when it is DARK? Why couldn’t they wait till the next day or bake them earlier? The only PLAUSIBLE reason was to taint the cookies and giggle from having their neighbor, that they may have gotten into a tiff with earlier, eat them. I don’t think it would have been poison but maybe something like hot cinnamon. The cookies were not evidence in the trial so we don’t know what was in them. Then when they heard a raised voice at the door they ran away with the evidence, perhaps with the realization that the prank could get them in trouble. The teenager’s family offered to pay the neighbor’s medical bills. If I was the father of those teenage girls I would only offer to pay if I knew that my girls were partially guilty. If I knew as a father, and I tasted the cookies to make sure they were okay, that my girls were ONLY doing it in good will I would have been adamant in protecting them not by avoiding the courts (by shelling out hush money by paying the medical bills) but rather by going to court to VINDICATE the honesty of my girls.
Have I ever done something nice for someone anonymously? I dontated $200 to the tsunami fund, I hand out dollars to the homeless on the streets of NYC, I help blind people cross the street, I’ve donated electronics, clothes and books to the Salvation Army, I gave away my $700 TV for free and kept my 15″ one with antenna for reception. I’ve fought for ethics at my job costing me great scorn and threats from corrupt coworkers and retaliation from managers.
OMG David, you seem to be really stretching this out… The kids attempted to DO SOMETHING NICE. The lady OVERREACTED. You sound like you have a major martyr complex. Come on…