Fake news but Technical Writing involved

by | Apr 26, 2022

A while ago I received a WhatsApp message about an award called the Stella Award. It was about the top 10 ridiculous legal cases in the U.S.  A little research proved that the message was fake though the case after which this fake award and news is based was real. The case of Stella Liebeck, 81 who sued Mc Donalds after she spilled hot coffee on her thighs and groin is now legend. It was finally settled out of court by both the parties. The top 10 list however was just plain ridiculous but there was a surprise at No.1.

It went something as follows –

This year’s runaway First Place Stella Award winner was: Mrs. Merv Grazinski, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, who purchased a new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On her first trip home, from an OU football game, having driven on to the freeway, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the driver’s seat to go to the back of the Winnebago to make herself a sandwich. Not surprisingly, the motor home left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Also not surprisingly, Mrs. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not putting in the owner’s manual that she couldn’t actually leave the driver’s seat while the cruise control was set. The Oklahoma jury awarded her, are you sitting down?

$1,750,000.

PLUS a new motor home. Winnebago actually changed their manuals as a result of this suit, just in case Mrs. Grazinski has any relatives who might also buy a motor home.

The news has been rubbished as fake but what is unusually interesting is that the case was decided on missing information in a User’s Manual which is written by a Technical Writer.

That saying, there have been real cases of companies being sued for misinformation or missing information in their user manuals. Here is a very interesting and informative post on the importance of good communication. 

Case Study: The Cost of Poor Communication – Technical Writing Essentials (bccampus.ca)

So it is of utmost importance what needs to go into a User’s Manual and what should not. I discuss this in detail in my course on Skillshare (now with Free 30 day trial).