Randy C Cassingham (1959 in California, USA) is an American syndicated columnist, humorist, publisher, and speaker. He is a former member of the
Society of Professional Journalists
The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, lette ...
. He has been the
keynote speaker
A keynote in public speaking is a talk that establishes a main underlying theme. In corporate or commercial settings, greater importance is attached to the delivery of a keynote speech or keynote address. The keynote establishes the framework fo ...
at several of
The Skeptics Society
The Skeptics Society is a nonprofit, member-supported organization devoted to promoting scientific skepticism and resisting the spread of pseudoscience, superstition, and irrational beliefs. The Skeptics Society was co-founded by Michael She ...
's annual conventions.
Cassingham is the author of the weekly syndicated news column ''
This is True'' (founded 1994), which Cassingham made available by e-mail subscription to become one of the first for-profit e-mailed newsletters on the Internet. (In January 1997, an expanded paid version became one of the first paid e-mailed newsletters on the Internet.) "This is True" features several actual news items each week of unbelievable-yet-true character, with each story capped by a pithy one-liner which is "humorous, ironic or opinionated."
Cassingham is the creator of the "Get Out of Hell Free" card (his response to a ''This is True'' reader who complained that a story about
Feng Shui
Feng shui ( or ), sometimes called Chinese geomancy, is a traditional form of geomancy that originated in ancient China and claims to use energy forces to harmonize individuals with their surrounding environment. The term ''feng shui'' mean ...
was "anti-Christian" and told him he was going to hell), the Internet Spam Primer, and several other web sites. Cassingham also started the "
HeroicStories" e-mail newsletter (founded 1999), which tells the stories of remarkable acts of kindness and courage. Management of "HeroicStories" has since been turned over to others.
Cassingham is a volunteer emergency medical
First Responder
A first responder is a person with specialized training who is among the first to arrive and provide assistance or incident resolution at the scene of an emergency. First responders typically include Law enforcement, law enforcement officers (co ...
for the area around his home in rural Western
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...
. He has been married to Kathryn Anne ("Kit") Riley since 2001.
Stella Awards
Cassingham is also the Founder of the "True Stella Awards", a web site dedicated to informing the public about allegedly frivolous legal cases. The site was expanded into a 2005 book of the same name, published by Dutton, an imprint of the
Penguin Group
Penguin Group is a British trade book publisher and part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by the German media company, media Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Bertelsmann. The new company was created by a Mergers and acquisitions, mer ...
. The awards were given between 2002 and 2007 to people who filed "
outrageous and frivolous lawsuits". Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, several false Stella Awards circulate on the Internet.
The awards were named after
Stella Liebeck who, in 1992, received
third degree burns to her thighs and genitals after ordering a cup of
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...
coffee at a drive thru, putting it in between her knees while sitting in the passenger seat of her grandson's stationary car, and attempted to remove the lid in order to add cream and sugar.
The coffee was at , a temperature which the restaurant was aware had caused burns to more than 700 people;
after McDonald's refused to pay for her
skin grafts
Skin is the layer of usually soft, flexible outer tissue covering the body of a vertebrate animal, with three main functions: protection, regulation, and sensation.
Other animal coverings, such as the arthropod exoskeleton, have different d ...
, and rejected several attempts at mediation and settlement,
[Andrea Gerlin, '']Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'', "A Matter of Degree: How a Jury Decided that a Coffee Spill is Worth $2.9 Million", September 1, 1994, p. A1, available from txstate.edu] Liebeck sued, winning the lawsuit and being awarded $640,000. (The amount originally awarded by the jury was over $2.9 million but it was reduced by the judge. The final amount that she got remains unknown, since it resulted from a confidential post-trial settlement between Liebeck and McDonald's.)
In July 2012, Cassingham sent a message to the True Stella Awards mailing list, announcing that after several abortive attempts to restart the list he came to the conclusion that he had said everything about the subject of frivolous lawsuits that he had intended to say, and so was shutting down the Stella Awards.
Cassingham has been criticized for repeating lies and rumors regarding Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants, specifically that she had the cup between her legs while driving.
Published work
*
References
External links
Cassingham's ''This is True'' websiteCassingham's "This is True" YouTube Channel"True Stella Awards" website"Get Out of Hell Free" website"Honorary Unsubscribe" website"Bonzer Web Sites of the Week" website"Cranky Customer" websitethe "Spam Primer" websiteCassingham's Dvorak keyboard primerJumboJoke.comGroxx – a site for user submitted ''This is True''-style storiesthe "HeroicStories" websiteCassingham.com – Randy Cassingham's personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cassingham, Randy
American male journalists
1959 births
Living people