Overlawyered: Chronicling The High Cost Of Our Legal System

Sued for leaving cookies on porch

Colorado: “Two Durango teens thought they’d surprise neighbors with nighttime deliveries of home-baked treats. But one woman was so terrified, she sued and has won.” But Wanita Renea Young, 49, was so unnerved by the knocks at her door at 10:30 p.m. that she called sheriffs and then sought emergency room care for an anxiety […]

Colorado: “Two Durango teens thought they’d surprise neighbors with nighttime deliveries of home-baked treats. But one woman was so terrified, she sued and has won.” But Wanita Renea Young, 49, was so unnerved by the knocks at her door at 10:30 p.m. that she called sheriffs and then sought emergency room care for an anxiety attack. The teenage cookie-leavers, Taylor Ostergaard and Lindsey Jo Zellitti, wrote her letters of apology, but she sued anyway and won $900. (Electa Draper, “Cookie klatch lands girls in court”, Denver Post, Feb. 4). More: National Review Online notes the case and radio host Steve Gill tells how to send the girls money. A day or two later: public support and media appearances roll in for the cookie girls (Denver Post, Feb. 6; more). And David Giacalone enters a dissent.

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5 Comments

  • Judge Judy, Please Report to Colorado, STAT!

    I hope they start some kind of collection for the girls. I’ll chip in for some cookies. And what exactly is the tort here? Trespass? Negligence? Negligent infliction of emotional distress? I’m stumped.

  • I guess our legal system leaves no good deed unpunished…

    At first, I thought this might be a joke or an urban legend, but sadly it doesn’t appear to be…

  • Cookies

    “The lesson is … never try.” – Homer Simpson…

  • the cookie curmudgeon checks in

    Somebody needs to register a cautionary dissent to the tongue-clucking

  • Meanwhile, at the White House, The Tort-Reformer-In-Chief Is Mulling Legislation That Would Make All Small-Claims Actions Automatically Removable to Federal Court

    For four days, good-hearted citizens across the land have been expressing shock and outrage about the two girls who were sued by a neighbor for delivering cookies as a gift–and lost, to the tune of nine-hundred big ones. But today,