# Obnoxious, Paranoid Bitch Sues Neighborhood Kids For Bringing Her Cookies...Wins **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 4, 2005, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-paranoid-bitch-sues-neighborhood-kids-for-bringing-her-cookies-wins/288405 "2005-02-04T18:33:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-paranoid-bitch-sues-neighborhood-kids-for-bringing-her-cookies-wins/288405/81 "2005-02-04T22:34:18Z")
Ordinarily, I prefer to take a devil’s advocate position when there is an overwhelming consensus and the opposing position is tenable. However, in this case, I’m with the majority of you here. As an obsessive-compulsive sufferer of anxiety, I am truly stunned by the sheer chutzpah of that obnoxious and paranoid bitch. I’m with Bricker, Reeder, Dio, and the rest of you who agree on this. This is a rare coalition indeed. I haven’t seen anything like it since the Left Behind invasion. I too would be interested in contributing to a fund for the girls. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-paranoid-bitch-sues-neighborhood-kids-for-bringing-her-cookies-wins/288405/82 "2005-02-04T22:57:47Z")
_“But Taylor had asked her father’s permission to bake cookies for the neighbors after livestock-tending chores were done.”_ I sense there might have been a tort involved here, but only if they’d failed to wash up really well. Anyway, next time they’ll know to go to the dance and drink and curse like teenagers are supposed to. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-paranoid-bitch-sues-neighborhood-kids-for-bringing-her-cookies-wins/288405/83 "2005-02-04T22:57:57Z")
I’m also willing to send them a few bucks to offset their losses to the paranoid neighbor. Nothing really more I can add that someone else hasn’t said already about what an obnoxious hag this woman is. In Russian, the proper term to describe her is “_baba_”. That about says it for me. Also, I hope the reporter doesnt get sued because his allowing people to help the girls gave her another attack. Anyone in favor of renting a van, driving down there and creating all kinds of creepy sounds outside her house at approx. 330 in the morning? ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-paranoid-bitch-sues-neighborhood-kids-for-bringing-her-cookies-wins/288405/84 "2005-02-04T23:08:33Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Negligent staying out late at night. See Restatement, Second. > > 🙂 :smack: Ohhh, right. Also, intentional infliction of cookie. 🙂 Y’know, something that occurs to me: > [@](#): > > A Durango judge Thursday awarded Young almost $900 to recoup her medical bills. She received nothing for pain and suffering…He didn’t award any punitive damages. It sounds like she was offered around the same amount to settle that she was awarded, but that she decided instead to take it to court and see if she could get punitive damages, or three times that amount, plus pain and suffering. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-paranoid-bitch-sues-neighborhood-kids-for-bringing-her-cookies-wins/288405/85 "2005-02-04T23:08:41Z")
> [@CynicalGabe](#): > > I’m also willing to send them a few bucks to offset their losses to the paranoid neighbor. Nothing really more I can add that someone else hasn’t said already about what an obnoxious hag this woman is. In Russian, the proper term to describe her is “_baba_”. That about says it for me. > > Also, I hope the reporter doesnt get sued because his allowing people to help the girls gave her another attack. > > Anyone in favor of renting a van, driving down there and creating all kinds of creepy sounds outside her house at approx. 330 in the morning? Actually, _baba_\* simply means “old lady”. I think you mean _baba yaga_\*, which in Russian/Slavic folklore is an old witch. ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-paranoid-bitch-sues-neighborhood-kids-for-bringing-her-cookies-wins/288405/86 "2005-02-04T23:11:25Z")
Based on the information in the article, I think the lawsuit was excessive. It seems that a reasonable person would have accepted the apology and the offered compensation, and then let it drop. BUT… 10:30 is waaaay too late to be knocking on the door of a virtual stranger. And leaving the cookies with no more explanation than that little note was careless or thoughtless at best. I don’t know exactly how that neighborhood is, but the article said “rural”. She may not know her neighbors. I hope the lesson these girls learned is that good intentions aren’t enough. Some kind of thought and responsibility are also required. I do commend their intentions, but they can’t learn wisdom any younger. I just hope people don’t make too much of them because of this. They certainly don’t need to learn that they are poor martyred victims, or that this woman is a complete ogre. It’d be nice if a little understanding could come out of this on both sides. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-paranoid-bitch-sues-neighborhood-kids-for-bringing-her-cookies-wins/288405/87 "2005-02-04T23:20:03Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Ordinarily, I prefer to take a devil’s advocate position when there is an overwhelming consensus and the opposing position is tenable. However, in this case, I’m with the majority of you here. As an obsessive-compulsive sufferer of anxiety, I am truly stunned by the sheer chutzpah of that obnoxious and paranoid bitch. I’m with Bricker, Reeder, Dio, and the rest of you who agree on this. This is a rare coalition indeed. I haven’t seen anything like it since the Left Behind invasion. I too would be interested in contributing to a fund for the girls. Oh God! The sky is falling! The sky is falling! Looks good on you too **Lib**. If there ever was a minor miscarriage of justice…this is it. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-paranoid-bitch-sues-neighborhood-kids-for-bringing-her-cookies-wins/288405/88 "2005-02-04T23:25:15Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > I’d be interested in knowing if the judge was a conservative or liberal. The “teach them a lesson” sounds conservative, the loose interpretation of the law sounds liberal. Heh. I was simply wondering if he’s _elected_ and if so is he up for reelection soon and if so would his opponent(s) be worthy of a campaign contribution if it is legal to make one. So far all I’ve had time to find out is that at least some judges in Colorado run for office. But I don’t know if it’s a yes-or-no thing or contested, or what. ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-paranoid-bitch-sues-neighborhood-kids-for-bringing-her-cookies-wins/288405/89 "2005-02-04T23:26:02Z")
OK, now I’ll sound like a nutjob like this lady, but I had one of my husband’s drunk friends show up at my house one night when he was out of town. Someone banged on the door (around 11pm), the dogs went nuts, and it scared the shit out of me. Why? Why not- who the fuck knocks on the door at 11pm? Certainly no one I know, and we’ve had serious crime happen here by people opening the door to strangers who force their way into the house. So I yelled “WHO IS IT?” several times. No answer, more loud knocking. I couldn’t see who was on the porch from the window, and I am here to tell you that even with 2 huge dogs (who were going apeshit because I was afraid and he kept knocking) I was scared shitless. I was honest to God about to call either the police or get my shotgun when I leaned one more time to try and see who it was- It was the aforementioned drunk friend and I let him have it big time for not answering me. He thought it was terribly funny that I was so shaken. I let him know that I almost answered the door with a gun and he didn’t think it was quite so funny. The moral of the story is just that a knock that late at night is like a phone call at 2am. It rarely means something good and can really scare the piss out of you. Oh, and just to provide a cite, here’s an incident that happened locally at 11am- just two weeks ago. [http://www.wcnc.com/news/countybycounty-union/stories/wcnc-011805-al-home\_invasion.1ee09ac3.html](http://www.wcnc.com/news/countybycounty-union/stories/wcnc-011805-al-home_invasion.1ee09ac3.html) ---
**Author:** ![Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/soul_brother_number_two/32/3515_2.png) [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-paranoid-bitch-sues-neighborhood-kids-for-bringing-her-cookies-wins/288405/90 "2005-02-04T23:46:34Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Ordinarily, I prefer to take a devil’s advocate position when there is an overwhelming consensus and the opposing position is tenable. Why? (sorry for the hijack, folks) ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-paranoid-bitch-sues-neighborhood-kids-for-bringing-her-cookies-wins/288405/91 "2005-02-05T00:18:06Z")
I think I remember a Supreme Court ruling in regard to a suit invoving door-to-door flyer advertising that people have a freedom-of-speech right to come to your front door without it being a violation of your rights or privacy. I think I’m going to try to find a way to get to get info to the parents or their attorney. Perhaps they could get this ruling tossed. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-paranoid-bitch-sues-neighborhood-kids-for-bringing-her-cookies-wins/288405/92 "2005-02-05T00:20:23Z")
> [@essvee](#): > > Why? > > (sorry for the hijack, folks) So he can hijack and ruin every thread? (Sorry, **Lib** , but you completely fucked up the Ann Coulter pitting). ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-paranoid-bitch-sues-neighborhood-kids-for-bringing-her-cookies-wins/288405/93 "2005-02-05T00:27:06Z")
> [@essvee](#): > > Why? Probably because it’s a thoroughly sensible policy. If the opposing position is viewed as _tenable_, then there’s no sense in going along with the herd, is there? The majority opinion seems to be (or at least once _was_) that Stella Liebeck’s suit against McDonald’s for her scalding injuries was frivolous to the point of absurdity. Anyone who’s familiar with the actual facts of the case is likely to consider otherwise. Should they join the masses in ridiculing Ms. Liebeck as a klutz that refused to take personal responsibility for her own stupidity, or remain quiet, just because that’s the popular view? How about Michael Jackson’s current legal problems? I’m sure a straw poll would determine that the consensus is that _of course_ he’s a child molestor – just look at him! While I agree with folks who shake their heads at the unquestioning, unshakable faith of some of his most vocal supporters, I reserve equal scorn for the many more people who are quick to assume he’s guilty of molestation. He very well _might_ be innocent of the accusations, and it’s ignorant to form a strong opinion either way until the trial’s over. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-paranoid-bitch-sues-neighborhood-kids-for-bringing-her-cookies-wins/288405/94 "2005-02-05T00:32:35Z")
The problem, **Larry** , is that often **Liberal** ’s idea of _tenable_ is to harp on semantics, or catch insignificant details until the thread is completely derailed. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-paranoid-bitch-sues-neighborhood-kids-for-bringing-her-cookies-wins/288405/95 "2005-02-05T00:34:12Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Ordinarily, I prefer to take a devil’s advocate position when there is an overwhelming consensus and the opposing position is tenable. \ Um, isn’t that dangerously close to trolling? And, what **thirdwarning** said. These girls weren’t blameless in all of this, in my opinion. This could have been handled better on both sides. ---
**Author:** ![MaddyStrut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@MaddyStrut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaddyStrut)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-paranoid-bitch-sues-neighborhood-kids-for-bringing-her-cookies-wins/288405/96 "2005-02-05T00:46:25Z")
Yes, knocking on someone’s door at 10:30 pm and running off isn’t an advisable thing. However, it’s something that warrents a call to the parents and an apology from the girls. Not a lawsuit! I sympathize with the woman’s anxiety disorder. However, as others have said, that’s a problem she needs to deal with. Again, she deserved an apology and possibly an offer to pay her medical expenses–both of which she got. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-paranoid-bitch-sues-neighborhood-kids-for-bringing-her-cookies-wins/288405/97 "2005-02-05T01:20:29Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > You commit (fease?) a tort against the victim you have, not the victim you might want or wish to have at a later time. > > Looks like there’s a Durango DopeFest in the making here. Lotsa volunteers already. Tortfease unto others as you would have them tortfease unto you! :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-paranoid-bitch-sues-neighborhood-kids-for-bringing-her-cookies-wins/288405/98 "2005-02-05T01:51:50Z")
> [@Cliffy](#): > > However, **Cheesesteak** , that is not the law. Assuming the P. sued on a negligence theory here, the harm had to come from the girls behaving inappropriately carelessly. You’re never going to convince me that that happened. **CandidG** ’s got the right of it – on your theory, anyone who had a rational fear of cheesesteaks could sue the pants off you. But you’ve done nothing careless, because you’ve done nothing that would likely cause harm to someone without special vulnerabilities. Under the law as it stands, you can’t be sued, even if the word cheesesteak sends some lurker into a coma. If a victim of an alleged tort is injured only because of her special vulnerabilities, there is no cause for recovery. Er, I don’t think so. A fear of hearing the word “cheesesteak,” enough to send you into a coma, would be bizarre. It couldn’t be planned for, because such a condition would be so rare that you couldn’t foresee it. However, a fear of strangers knocking on your door at night (and 10:30 is late, the sun is down by then) and leaving strange packages with cryptic messages is not bizarre. It is reasonable to expect that these actions will cause distress to some people. It’s like the difference between flinging spiders on someone and throwing cotton balls at them. It’s possible that there are people with a crippling fear of cotton balls, but if there are their numbers are low. However, many people are frightened of spiders, and the person doing that has to be aware of that, unless they’re an idiot. I have to side with the old woman here. I’m a very anxious and at times paranoid person and if this happened to me I could easily see myself totally flipping out, possibly enough to have to go to the emergency room, depending on circumstances. $900 would also set me back A LOT, that is two months’ pay at the job I’m currently working. So these girls’ random act of kindness would have been devastating for me. Especially when they could have averted all of this by delivering the cookies in the daytime and sticking around to deliver the cookies in person. Would the gesture have been diluted if they had put their full names on the notes, or waited till the next day? What these girls did was dumb, and I’d consider it harrassment if it happened to me. I mean, I don’t think I’d have sued or anything, but I’d definitely be distressed by it, and might have been cowering in fear of the mysterious T and L who for some reason left poisoned cookies on my doorstep and watched chuckling from a safe distance, mocking me, for the next week. I don’t doubt that more numerous lesser mental cases would have had a similar reaction. It’s not unreasonable to be afraid of strangers at night, especially when you’re a woman, and especially when you live in an isolated rural area. Plus, I’d never eat any uncovered food that was left in a basket by people I don’t know. I doubt many of T and L’s cookies were eaten. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-paranoid-bitch-sues-neighborhood-kids-for-bringing-her-cookies-wins/288405/99 "2005-02-05T02:15:09Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > The problem, **Larry** , is that often **Liberal** ’s idea of _tenable_ is to harp on semantics, or catch insignificant details until the thread is completely derailed. I’ve noticed that is often the case, too. (It’s hard to get things past ol’ Mudd, it is.) I just think it’s a good idea to respond to the post, rather than the poster. (So, over the in aforementioned Coulter thread, I bang my head against the common wall of **Lib** ’s recalcitrant sophistry. It doesn’t make any sense to me to react differently to a valid premise forwarded by **Lib** than I would if it were forwarded by someone else. He isn’t _always_ wrong, after all – and as frustrating as debating with him can be, he’s sincere and a decent sort of fellow. I try to respect that. (It’s not hard, really!) You, on the other hand, I love unconditionally and rather slavishly, and it takes a terrible martialling of will to contradict you in any way. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-paranoid-bitch-sues-neighborhood-kids-for-bringing-her-cookies-wins/288405/100 "2005-02-05T02:39:10Z")
Note to self: don’t give any home-made cookies to **continuity eror** --do you know that’s spelled wrong? Couple of things: 1. woman was not home alone 2. even if the girls were out of line, an apology was all that was needed. 3. if this woman is that anxious, she needs medication. If she has a heart condition, she needs nitroglycerin sub lingual. 4. Contrary to common belief, angina attacks are not caused by fear. She may have had a panic attack–again, she sounds like she has a history of such things, and should be on meds for it. Are the girls to be responsible for any post-traumatic panic attack she may suffer in coming months? 5. There is not enough niceness in the world and this woman is determined to see that the small bit around her dries up as well. I have no sympathy for this woman–she has lost her ability to reach out to others and be a member of a community. Rural and she doesn’t know her neighbors? Unlikely–unless she is anti-social. She is unlikely to get the peace and quiet she craves, since taking these girls to court and acting like a sanctimonous, righteous person, she has set herself up for major abuse on the part of not so nice people. Rather short sighted of her, no? But maybe that’s the girl’s fault as well? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-paranoid-bitch-sues-neighborhood-kids-for-bringing-her-cookies-wins/288405.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obnoxious-paranoid-bitch-sues-neighborhood-kids-for-bringing-her-cookies-wins/288405.md?page=6)