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.
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.