Most people drink coffee at about 130°. Some people ask for extra hot which is about 150°, so it will still be hot when they get to the office. McDonald's was serving their coffee at 190° with no warning it was that hot. The little old lady who ended up in the hospital with skin grafts and two years of rehabilitation asked for $10,000 to help pay for her medical bills. McDonald's offered her $800.
They kept it that hot because McDonalds calculated the savings from not having to offer refills versus small work comp and liability insurance claims. Imagine if a toddler had pulled it over his head. This was not a frivolous lawsuit at all.
This idea that there are numerous frivolous lawsuits filed is just a myth. Yes spilling coffee on yourself is your own folly. However it is a foreseeable folly that if you sell millions of cups of coffee a day people will spill on themselves. So if it is more likely than not that giving them extremely hot coffee with no warning will make their folly worse then you have liability. Again, just because a small number of frivolous lawsuits are shown in the media does not mean it is the norm. It's very similar to all the tragic covid deaths of young people the media would show last year. They love to publicize the exception and ignore the norm.
Read below. She deserved to win the case. Crazy how McDonald’s was serving their coffee waaaaaay too hot!
Normally, coffee is served at around 140 degrees. This coffee was between 180 and 190 degrees. Basically, that’s hot enough to cause horrible third degree burns. Understandably, the shock and pain led to Ms. Liebeck spilling even more coffee onto her lap.
For starters, why serve the coffee so hot? Well, its cheaper to do it that way. The resulting severe burns to Ms. Liebeck’s thighs and genital area are contained below. Fair warning – they are graphic.
Warning – This Link Contains Graphic Images
Ms. Liebeck was hospitalized for 8 days for third degree full thickness burns on her thighs and genitals. She had to undergo skin grafts and follow up debridement treatments where they would cut away dead or rotting flesh.
Not only was McDonald’s doing something dangerous to save money, but THEY KNEW PEOPLE WERE BEING BADLY BURNED! McDonald’s own documents showed that they were aware of over 700 cases where customers were badly burned by the coffee between 1982 to 1992. But it was cheaper to do nothing.
At first, Ms. Liebeck and her family just wanted McDonald’s to cover her medical expenses in relation to this incident. They weren’t after some big payday. Just the medical bills that piled up because of McDonald’s disregard for its customer’s safety. McDonald’s refused. After filing the lawsuit and prior to trial, the demand to resolve the case was $20,000.00. Not a small amount of money to be sure, but not the millions of dollars you heard about. At trial, McDonald’s own witnesses admitted that the temperature they served coffee at was “NOT SAFE FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION”.
After hearing about McDonald’s knowledge that people were getting hurt and disregard for its customers’ safety, the jury found that they were at fault for the accident and awarded Ms. Liebeck $200,000.00. Because the jury acknowledged Ms. Liebeck was partially at fault for the accident as well, they attributed 20% to her and reduced the award to $160,000.00. But because McDonald’s conduct was so reprehensible, they awarded $2.7 million dollars in punitive damages, which was eventually reduced by the judge to $480,000.00. To give you an idea, that’s less than McDonald’s makes from the sales of its coffee in a single day.
The commercials for Johnnie Cochran's law firm always painted him as this stoic figure who fought for the common man and his community, instead of the self serving money chasing whore that he really was. I blame the OJ trial and all those stupid Law & Order shows for this mess.
The "hot coffee" fallacy just shows ignorance on the part of the speaker. In every case pushed by the MSM, there is information that isn't being told in order to craft a narrative.
The people who bought the "runaway jury" shit in the 90s are the ones faithfully believing Floyd was murdered today.
Most people drink coffee at about 130°. Some people ask for extra hot which is about 150°, so it will still be hot when they get to the office. McDonald's was serving their coffee at 190° with no warning it was that hot. The little old lady who ended up in the hospital with skin grafts and two years of rehabilitation asked for $10,000 to help pay for her medical bills. McDonald's offered her $800.
They kept it that hot because McDonalds calculated the savings from not having to offer refills versus small work comp and liability insurance claims. Imagine if a toddler had pulled it over his head. This was not a frivolous lawsuit at all.
This idea that there are numerous frivolous lawsuits filed is just a myth. Yes spilling coffee on yourself is your own folly. However it is a foreseeable folly that if you sell millions of cups of coffee a day people will spill on themselves. So if it is more likely than not that giving them extremely hot coffee with no warning will make their folly worse then you have liability. Again, just because a small number of frivolous lawsuits are shown in the media does not mean it is the norm. It's very similar to all the tragic covid deaths of young people the media would show last year. They love to publicize the exception and ignore the norm.
Read below. She deserved to win the case. Crazy how McDonald’s was serving their coffee waaaaaay too hot!
Normally, coffee is served at around 140 degrees. This coffee was between 180 and 190 degrees. Basically, that’s hot enough to cause horrible third degree burns. Understandably, the shock and pain led to Ms. Liebeck spilling even more coffee onto her lap.
For starters, why serve the coffee so hot? Well, its cheaper to do it that way. The resulting severe burns to Ms. Liebeck’s thighs and genital area are contained below. Fair warning – they are graphic. Warning – This Link Contains Graphic Images
Ms. Liebeck was hospitalized for 8 days for third degree full thickness burns on her thighs and genitals. She had to undergo skin grafts and follow up debridement treatments where they would cut away dead or rotting flesh.
Not only was McDonald’s doing something dangerous to save money, but THEY KNEW PEOPLE WERE BEING BADLY BURNED! McDonald’s own documents showed that they were aware of over 700 cases where customers were badly burned by the coffee between 1982 to 1992. But it was cheaper to do nothing.
At first, Ms. Liebeck and her family just wanted McDonald’s to cover her medical expenses in relation to this incident. They weren’t after some big payday. Just the medical bills that piled up because of McDonald’s disregard for its customer’s safety. McDonald’s refused. After filing the lawsuit and prior to trial, the demand to resolve the case was $20,000.00. Not a small amount of money to be sure, but not the millions of dollars you heard about. At trial, McDonald’s own witnesses admitted that the temperature they served coffee at was “NOT SAFE FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION”.
After hearing about McDonald’s knowledge that people were getting hurt and disregard for its customers’ safety, the jury found that they were at fault for the accident and awarded Ms. Liebeck $200,000.00. Because the jury acknowledged Ms. Liebeck was partially at fault for the accident as well, they attributed 20% to her and reduced the award to $160,000.00. But because McDonald’s conduct was so reprehensible, they awarded $2.7 million dollars in punitive damages, which was eventually reduced by the judge to $480,000.00. To give you an idea, that’s less than McDonald’s makes from the sales of its coffee in a single day.
Have you seen the photos from the hot coffee case?
The commercials for Johnnie Cochran's law firm always painted him as this stoic figure who fought for the common man and his community, instead of the self serving money chasing whore that he really was. I blame the OJ trial and all those stupid Law & Order shows for this mess.
SHIT.
The "hot coffee" fallacy just shows ignorance on the part of the speaker. In every case pushed by the MSM, there is information that isn't being told in order to craft a narrative.
The people who bought the "runaway jury" shit in the 90s are the ones faithfully believing Floyd was murdered today.