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rainbow_goddess.
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
She was scared of... what, exactly? Cookies?
The July 31 deliveries consisted of half a dozen chocolate-chip and sugar cookies accompanied by big hearts cut out of red or pink construction paper with the message: "Have a great night."
The notes were signed, "Love, The T and L Club," code for Taylor Ostergaard, then 17, and Lindsey Jo Zellitti, 18.
They've got a picture, very cute box. Sounds yummy, the cookies.
Inside one of the nine scattered rural homes south of Durango that got cookies that night, a 49-year-old woman became so terrified by the knocks on her door around 10:30 p.m. that she called the sheriff's department. Deputies determined that no crime had been committed.
Remind me to never move someplace rural, where you have to be scared of people knocking at the door....
A Durango judge Thursday awarded Young almost $900 to recoup her medical bills. She received nothing for pain and suffering.
Remember this part, it comes up again later.
"The victory wasn't sweet," Young said Thursday afternoon. "I'm not gloating about it. I just hope the girls learned a lesson."
What lesson? Don't bake cookies for neighbors?
The judge said that he didn't think the girls acted maliciously but that it was pretty late at night for them to be out. He didn't award any punitive damages.
10:30. That's not "pretty late". I've come home later than that, even at that age.
Taylor and Lindsey declined to comment Thursday, saying only that they didn't want to say anything hurtful.
Yeah, that'd be my reaction at this point.
Court records contain half a dozen letters from neighbors who said that they enjoyed the unexpected treats.
The cookies were good. It was a nice surprise. They weren't scared.
They had no need to be scared. It's cookies.
[Young] thought perhaps they were burglars or some neighbors she had tangled with in the past, she said.
Hm. I wonder why she'd think that neighbors would want to harass her. If this is how she normally acts, I'm not surprised.
The girls wrote letters of apology to Young. Taylor's letter, written a few days after the episode, said in part: "I didn't realize this would cause trouble for you. ... I just wanted you to know that someone cared about you and your family."
The families had offered to pay Young's medical bills if she would agree to indemnify the families against future claims.
Okay. Remember the $900 the woman won, no pain and suffering? She could've gotten it without the trouble of the suit. They offered to pay her medical bills, they apologized.
Young wouldn't sign the agreement. She said the families' apologies rang false and weren't delivered in person. The matter went to court.
...
Honestly, I don't know what to say.
Young said she believes that the girls should not have been running from door to door late at night.
"Something bad could have happened to them," she said.
Oh, yes, it's all about them, you're concerned about their safety. I thought rural areas were supposed to be, like, these safe places, where you weren't just randomly accosted in the street after 10 PM...?
rainbow_goddess.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
She was scared of... what, exactly? Cookies?
The July 31 deliveries consisted of half a dozen chocolate-chip and sugar cookies accompanied by big hearts cut out of red or pink construction paper with the message: "Have a great night."
The notes were signed, "Love, The T and L Club," code for Taylor Ostergaard, then 17, and Lindsey Jo Zellitti, 18.
They've got a picture, very cute box. Sounds yummy, the cookies.
Inside one of the nine scattered rural homes south of Durango that got cookies that night, a 49-year-old woman became so terrified by the knocks on her door around 10:30 p.m. that she called the sheriff's department. Deputies determined that no crime had been committed.
Remind me to never move someplace rural, where you have to be scared of people knocking at the door....
A Durango judge Thursday awarded Young almost $900 to recoup her medical bills. She received nothing for pain and suffering.
Remember this part, it comes up again later.
"The victory wasn't sweet," Young said Thursday afternoon. "I'm not gloating about it. I just hope the girls learned a lesson."
What lesson? Don't bake cookies for neighbors?
The judge said that he didn't think the girls acted maliciously but that it was pretty late at night for them to be out. He didn't award any punitive damages.
10:30. That's not "pretty late". I've come home later than that, even at that age.
Taylor and Lindsey declined to comment Thursday, saying only that they didn't want to say anything hurtful.
Yeah, that'd be my reaction at this point.
Court records contain half a dozen letters from neighbors who said that they enjoyed the unexpected treats.
The cookies were good. It was a nice surprise. They weren't scared.
They had no need to be scared. It's cookies.
[Young] thought perhaps they were burglars or some neighbors she had tangled with in the past, she said.
Hm. I wonder why she'd think that neighbors would want to harass her. If this is how she normally acts, I'm not surprised.
The girls wrote letters of apology to Young. Taylor's letter, written a few days after the episode, said in part: "I didn't realize this would cause trouble for you. ... I just wanted you to know that someone cared about you and your family."
The families had offered to pay Young's medical bills if she would agree to indemnify the families against future claims.
Okay. Remember the $900 the woman won, no pain and suffering? She could've gotten it without the trouble of the suit. They offered to pay her medical bills, they apologized.
Young wouldn't sign the agreement. She said the families' apologies rang false and weren't delivered in person. The matter went to court.
...
Honestly, I don't know what to say.
Young said she believes that the girls should not have been running from door to door late at night.
"Something bad could have happened to them," she said.
Oh, yes, it's all about them, you're concerned about their safety. I thought rural areas were supposed to be, like, these safe places, where you weren't just randomly accosted in the street after 10 PM...?
no subject
Date: 2005-02-04 01:02 pm (UTC)First, they baked cookies to hand out. What if somebody had been diabetic? Cruel!
Then, they left the house at 10:30 PM! They could've been hurt!
After this, they cruelly and maliciously knocked on people's doors, and left before the doors were opened. They were waiting for somebody to have a heart attack!
And when their evil prank went awry, they apologised and offered to pay the woman's medical bills. Clearly, their apology wasn't sincere, though, and this woman had to sue to teach them their lesson.