Let no good deed go unpunished.

Feb 4, 10:49 PM (ET)

DURANGO, Colo. (Reuters) - A Colorado judge ordered two teen-age girls to pay about $900 for the distress a neighbor said they caused by giving her home-made cookies adorned with paper hearts.

The pair were ordered to pay $871.70 plus $39 in court costs after neighbor Wanita Renea Young, 49, filed a lawsuit complaining that the unsolicited cookies, left at her house after the girls knocked on her door, had triggered an anxiety attack that sent her to the hospital the next day.

Taylor Ostergaard, then 17, and Lindsey Jo Zellitte, 18, paid the judgment on Thursday after a small claims court ruling by La Plata County Court Judge Doug Walker, a court clerk said on Friday.

The girls baked cookies as a surprise for several of their rural Colorado neighbors on July 31 and dropped off small batches on their porches, accompanied by red or pink paper hearts and the message: "Have a great night."

The Denver Post newspaper reported on Friday that the girls had decided to stay home and bake the cookies rather than go to a dance where there might be cursing and drinking.

It reported that six neighbors wrote letters entered as evidence in the case thanking the girls for the cookies.

But Young said she was frightened because the two had knocked on her door at about 10:30 p.m. and run off after leaving the cookies.

She went to a hospital emergency room the next day, fearing that she had suffered a heart attack, court records said.

The judge awarded Young her medical costs, but did not award punitive damages. He said he did not think the girls had acted maliciously but that 10:30 was fairly late at night for them to be out.

• Denver Post

I guess there is truth in stupidity.
Just can't imagine anyone suing over a plate of cookies, even if she misunderstood the deed. What about the real pranksters, vandals they can be scary, paper bag of doggie doo on fire, rotten eggs, car keying don't hear about court dates for these deeds, but then again they don't fess up either.

"triggered an anxiety attack that sent her to the hospital the next day"

While knocking on someone’s door at 10PM is late; I think if it were to cause her any problems those problems would be that night. Not the next day after she has had time to sleep and relax.

If I were this neighbor I would be worried about the retaliation from the other neighbors because I brought on this suit. Not fun being the neighbor that no one will talk to or help.

The main thing some neighbors do not think about when taking action that does not agree with the neighborhood as a whole. You still got to live here with these same neighbors after you pi$$ them all off.

That was perfect!!! Thanks,

Allan

Those darned girls should have known that Wanita's heart was probably already stressed out from swimin' the river. :>)

Allan