Delivering free cookies, that'll be $900...

Keevan_Colton · Post by **Keevan_Colton** » 2005-02-04 08:44pm

DURANGO, Colo. - Two teenage girls who surprised their neighbors with homemade cookies late one night were ordered to pay nearly $900 in medical bills plus court costs for a woman who says she was so startled that she had to go to the hospital.

La Plata County Court Judge Doug Walker declined Thursday to award punitive damages, saying he did not believe the girls acted maliciously but that 10:30 was fairly late at night for them to be out.

Taylor Ostergaard, then 17, and Lindsey Jo Zellitti, then 18, baked the chocolate chip and sugar cookies one night last 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.? Then they set off to make their deliveries.

The Denver Post reported 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.

?Shadowy figures? and no answer to ?Who?s there??
But Wanita Renea Young, 49, said she was at her rural home south of Durango around 10:30 p.m. when 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.

The teens said they did not answer when the woman called out because they wanted the treats to be a surprise.

Frightened, Young spent the night at her sister?s home, then went to the hospital the next morning because she was still shaking, had an upset stomach and feared she had had a heart attack.

Apologies called insincere
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.

The girls declined comment after the ruling. Taylor?s mother said her daughter ?cried and cried.?

?She felt she was being punished for doing something nice,? Jill Ostergaard said.

Young said the teenagers showed ?very poor judgment?

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

The two were ordered to pay $871.70 plus $39 in court costs. They paid the judgment Thursday, a court clerk said Friday.

MSNBC

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2005-02-04 08:47pm

Wow, that woman is an enormous asshole.

Pick · Post by **Pick** » 2005-02-04 08:48pm

What the fucking hell.

Next batch of cookies should contain ricin.

frigidmagi · Post by **frigidmagi** » 2005-02-04 08:50pm

Thing is people like her often sit around and complain that nobody does good things anymore and wonder why...

Way to fuck it up for the rest of us, lady.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2005-02-04 08:53pm

The teens displayed poor judgement? This from a woman who refused to accept their original apology and her medical bills? This from a woman who sued some teenagers for giving her cookies? What a spectacular bitch.

On the one hand, I find it strange that the teens allegedly banged on the door and then left something as a "surprise," but that woman's actions are flat out malicious and pathetic.

Ms. Young, if you're out there reading this, then this is for you:

Go ahead and sue me for insulting you.

Post by **weemadando** » 2005-02-04 09:16pm

I heard about this on NewsRadio this morning, yet another litiginous (I just made that word up) arsehole to be first against the wall when the revolution comes. In the mean-time, someone should be assigned to her to make sure she never eats cookies again, seeing as they obviously cause such mental anguish - and we better extend it to cakes, crispbreads, scones, muffins, donuts and all pasty products.

Tinkerbell · Post by **Tinkerbell** » 2005-02-04 09:17pm

This is why I don't do nice things for people

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2005-02-04 09:28pm

Who has a heart attack from a couple teenagers knocking (even if it is "pounding") on the door and then running off?

The lady probably had an ulcer from being so uptight.

Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba · Post by **Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba** » 2005-02-04 09:36pm

What a toad.

The teens showed poor judgement? They were insincere? These kids baked you cookies and you sue them? Bitch.

Captain Cyran · Post by **Captain Cyran** » 2005-02-04 09:36pm

I'm going to send this to my sister Colorado so she can hunt this woman down and scream at her... What an uptight cunt "learned there lesson"? What the fuck, God I just want five minutes to yell at this bitch.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2005-02-04 09:37pm

What a great life lesson for these girls.

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2005-02-04 10:03pm

God.

That lady must be like one of those people who stay cooped up in their house the whole freakin time, with the curtains always shut, who either sit in front of the TV or are praying in front of their little shrine in the fireplace. And when they actually go out, they always go out at night to the grocery store, in like a giant coat and scarf to cover half their faces, afraid that the devil is behind every corner or something.

Yeeeesh!

Poor girls.

Chmee · Post by **Chmee** » 2005-02-04 10:06pm

Gee, now I feel bad about when we were kids and played 'ring and run' at people's houses all the time .... we probably sent people to the hospital!

Er .... of course we were really baking cookies ... fresh yummy cookies, officer!

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2005-02-04 10:07pm

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

Aye, they learned a lesson alright.

Never be nice to people, cause if you do they'll always flip out and sue you in return.

SpacedTeddyBear · Post by **SpacedTeddyBear** » 2005-02-04 10:18pm

What a stupid bitch. This makes me sick. So sick, I'm gonna go sue her ass because her stupidity made me ill. I hope the people of that town shits on her wherever she goes. If I were living there, I'd post fliers all over the place with that bitches picture on it.

Post by **Zaia** » 2005-02-04 10:19pm

Aren't there goodwill laws that protect against this sort of thing? Laws that protect people who try to medically assist people but end up exacerbating the person's conidition? Maybe they should add an amendment to include cookie-givers in that protection...assuming I didn't just imagine that goodwill thing.

Edit: By 'this sort of thing' I meant doing something out of good intent but ending up causing unforeseen harm instead, not that giving cookies and administering CPR incorrectly are the same thing.

Post by **fgalkin** » 2005-02-04 10:24pm

It's not easy being nice.....

Seriously, though, that woman is a bitch of epic proportions.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba · Post by **Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba** » 2005-02-04 10:27pm

Hmm... Something else. I guess this just proves that nice guys(or in this case, girls) really DO finish last.

Sharpshooter · Post by **Sharpshooter** » 2005-02-04 11:17pm

And just as I think we've hit the bottom of the barrel for stupid, frivelous lawsuist, the whole floor gives way.

I agree that it was poor judgement for these two to be traipsing around in the middle of the night and knocking on people's doors, and a fine of maybe twenty to fifty bucks would probably have been sufficient. But that this bitch should go and actually sue them - when they baked her fresh cookies, for cryin' out loud! - for nine hundred dollars because of some condition she probably brought upon herself or was festering inside her with or without the teens' actions is beyond any rationalization I can make.

I'm willing to bet this is the kind of old bat that bitches and moans at every single thing that everybody does, and is already generally hated around town: toss this into the mix, and I foresee a rise of animosity like you wouldn't believe against her.

Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi · Post by **Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi** » 2005-02-04 11:58pm

Kids, let that be a lesson to you: Don't do anything nice for anyone. They just might sue.

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2005-02-05 12:18am

xBlackFlash wrote:This is why I don't do nice things for people

What about for nice people?

Vohu Manah · Post by **Vohu Manah** » 2005-02-05 12:21am

Stofsk wrote:
xBlackFlash wrote:This is why I don't do nice things for people
What about for nice people?

Potential liability, they're only slightly less likely to sue you.

The Silence and I · Post by **The Silence and I** » 2005-02-05 12:31am

I can't help feeling really bad for the teens, if I were in their shoes I would feel seriously disillusioned with society. Going to an extra effort to be nice to people and getting yelled at is one thing, but getting sued and having the judge and jury rule against you? That would disillusion me to the point where, well I don't know what. But it wouldn't be good. I do hope these girls can deal with this without damage.

p.s. If I ever was to sue for less than absolutely serious reasons it would be to take all the money someone like this has and give it to whatever needy group knocks on my door first. If a would be robber can fall through a sky light and cut himself on a kitchen knife on the way down and win, I can sue for illness brought on by stupid lawsuits.

Post by **Gandalf** » 2005-02-05 12:51am

Rule of Acquisition 285: No good deed goes unpunished.

wautd · Post by **wautd** » 2005-02-05 12:56pm

See? Thats why i'm for lynching mobs. Show some [/i]real justice to that bich and judge