Let me play devil's advocate for a moment. First I would like to say that the major media outlets got this one wrong. They only gave a short, uninformed, one-sided blurb of what really went on (typical of the modern American news media). They sensationalized the result of a small claims court decision and made some very stupid teenage girls instant pseudo-celebrities.
Judge Wapner must be laughing his head off right about now.

I'm not fully condoning the actions of Wanita Young, but I feel that there wasn't enough information given from her point of view. Did she suffer from some kind of physical problems which may have played into her thinking that she was dying, did she harbor some very real fears about being harassed by unpleasant strangers? We don't know, and we probably won't know since every news outlet I've seen this article posted on hasn't bothered to do some due diligence.

How do we know the girls’ actions were of good will? I now you must be thinking that delivering cookies is quite benign, but what if they had been poisoned or the platter rigged to explode when picked up? We have heard of teens suddenly going berserk and killing without reason. We do not live in rational times.

If the idea was concocted out of love for their neighbors then it does not justify the stupid way they went about executing it. You do not appear outside someone's door without announcing yourself properly. Late night visitors usually are the bearer of bad news, or worse, bad cookies. Most folks (myself included) do not expect anyone to show up after 10:00pm unless invited before.

Lets also not forget that the police investigated the incident and suggested, that very night, Wanita and her family go to a nearby motel for safety's sake. Normally the police can quickly assess if a disturbance is a prank or not. They did find the cookies but did not rule out the chance of a thinly veiled threat against the residents. Normal people just do not deliver food and leave it on your porch at 10:30pm.

That night, in a panic, Mrs. Young traveled to her sister's place. As she was traveling, Mrs. Young states that she was throwing up, and had been feeling pressure in her chest; possible signs of a heart attack. She promptly admitted herself to a hospital (which any person concerned about their health should do) and was treated for what would be later diagnosed as a panic attack.

Now here is where the real mistake was made: Several days later, Young found out who had left the cookies on her doorstep while speaking on the telephone with Taylor Ostergaard's mother, Jill Ostergaard, who offered to pay for expenses related to the incident not covered by Young's health insurance plan. But instead of having the girls personally apologize and pay Mrs. Young's bill, they opted to listen to an ATTORNEY and tried to pass off an ATTORNEY-authored agreement outlining their intention to pay Young and releasing the two families from any further financial liability related to the incident. Young was advised (presumably by an ATTORNEY) not to sign the document and took the girls to small claims court.

Now if you wonder what is wrong with America it is that we have LAWYERS. I don't mean the honest public defenders and prosecutors; no no I mean the malevolent swine that feed on the fears and ignorance of everyday people just trying to keep others from taking what is theirs. I'm talking about the Personal Injury, Bankruptcy, and Family lawyers who bilk BILLIONS of dollars from their clients who choose not to take responsibility for their own actions.

Tort reform is desperately needed in America. The media ought to keep stories like this out of the spotlight, and force these ridiculous participants back into obscurity where they belong.

Yes, the girls did use some bad judgment in how they went about delivering the cookies, but nothing they did warranted the lawsuit, and that's what makes Young such a bitch, deserving of what she's getting now.

I agree. I know the girls' actions were not malicious enough to warrant a lawsuit, but I do think the "Adults" are really to blame in this matter. Teens generally don't think before they act. They act on impulses, and feelings from the heart. It's the Adults who take a child's act of kindness and twist it out of proportion. I think the parents of the girls and Mrs Young probably exchanged words, someone got their feelings hurt and used the kids' good deed to mask their true intentions. Being adults they took advantage of the system to get each other's point across. I blame the girls' parents equally as I do Mrs. Young.

I'm curious to know what the diagnosis was. I mean, was she REALLY sick? Or is she one of these freaks sitting in her house wearing a foil hat afraid of everything that goes bump in the night. I bet if it was a check being delivered she wouldn't have been so ill. And I thought she waited to go to the hospital the next day. I also wonder how much she actually got out of it after insurance and everything. AND I wonder how much she will profit if people like us keep talking about her and she gets her own damn reality show. I think she and Johnny Fairplay should move in together

It's the Adults who take a child's act of kindness and twist it out of proportion. I think the parents of the girls and Mrs Young probably exchanged words, someone got their feelings hurt and used the kids' good deed to mask their true intentions. Being adults they took advantage of the system to get each other's point across.

Isn't that being as presumptuous as everybody else? It doesn't sound as if the parents were malicious in any way. I just don't see how apologizing and offering to pay the medical bill is malicious, even if it wasn't an apology given in person. Nothing they did warranted a lawsuit, and even if a lawyer suggested that she sue them, she should have used her own judgment to see why it would be a bad idea.

How do we know the girls’ actions were of good will? I now you must be thinking that delivering cookies is quite benign, but what if they had been poisoned or the platter rigged to explode when picked up? We have heard of teens suddenly going berserk and killing without reason. We do not live in rational times.

--Citizen AL

Well, were any of the other cookies poisoned or platters rigged to explode? Of not, then that should have been a fairly solid indication that no intent to harm was in the offing.

Normal people just do not deliver food and leave it on your porch at 10:30pm.

---AL

My church once delivered baskets of food to the poor at a late hour, ringing the bell or knocking and then leaving...we didn't get sued.

This kind of thing makes me sad to be an American. "Kill all the Lawyers", Shakespeare wrote. That might be a good place to start, at that. Then move on to the judges like this one.

If she was unstable or ill, then that should have been cause for the judge to throw out the case. And did she really think burglars would be knocking?

It's a sad, money-hungry state this nation is in right now. Lawyers who'll take any case, no matter how ridiculous, if they think they can win a settlement. Idiotic judges who allow it to happen....even plastic surgeons, for example, who'll keep operating on people until they're terribly deformed and look like nothing from this planet (Michael Jackson and Joan Rivers). Is there no moral fiber anymore, no one to say "No...this is too stupid to pursue."
Something has to be done about these stupid lawsuits, but I have no clue what.

To the writer and to the public you were not there, you do not know the whole story. So what is really wrong with AMERICA? when america starts putting people down and making false acuisations about things they don't understand or know the whole truth just goes to show that people are sticking there nose into other peoples business and need to grow the hell up!!!!!!!!!!

neighbor who knows the truth!!!!!!!!December 4, 2006 18:48:54

how long have you been a self important moron?

I remember hearing about this on the radio....it actually happened sometime last year, I think it was. I remember that the whacky, comedic "Morning Drive-time" Deejays were all over the lady, making their whacky, comedic observations and suggestions as to what she could do with her winnings.

But, yeah....America is obsessed with needless, stupid litigation......get rich quick---sue somebody! And there are more than enough lawyers and whacko judges to enable that obsession.

Just goes to show you that, once again....no good deed goes unpunished.

----Holy shit.....I guess I do remember it---I already commented on it.+LOL+