No, I won't give you a break. The coffee was not "hot". It was scalding. And McDonalds knew full well that it's coffee was resulting in people getting 3rd degree burns but ignored all recommendations that they lower the temperature down to just being hot.. Over 700 complaints that their coffee was causing serious and severe injuries and they ignored all of it. Coffee that gives full thickness burns within 2 seconds is not just "hot" coffee. Now certainly, you may be the type to enjoy drinking coffee that results in your needing a series of surgeries and skin grafts and ongoing treatment for the rest of your life and that's just peachy for you. There was a case here in Australia where the coffee was so hot that she suffered 3rd degree burns to her lips, mouth, throat and parts of her stomach, resulting in weeks in hospital and extensive reconstruction surgery. Those cases are not why there is a 'hot beverage' warning on lids. Those cases resulted in the water temperature being lowered to non-scalding.
And just so you know, Liebeck originally asked for $20,000 to pay for the medical treatment that full thickness burns - and these burns went down to her bones - requires.
I am so sick and tired of people using this case and falsifying it and making it out as if it was just 'hot coffee'. Having seen the images of her injuries, I can assure you, $2 million is nowhere near enough. Her injuries were horrific. And just so you know, the court brought it down to $480,000. Now sure, I could believe that it was frivolous because the company, that hospitalised dozens of people with 3rd degree burns and ignored all safety and quality assurance inspectors stating that their coffee was dangerous and could cause life threatening injuries and permanent scarring for over 10 years, says so. The pictures of what this woman suffered say a thousand words. I dare you to even look at them and tell me that it was frivolous. And just so you know, what is shown in the photos is just a part of it. Those burns also burnt through to the bones of not just between her thighs, but also her vagina and parts of her buttocks. That's right, the coffee was so hot that it burnt through all of her skin, tissue and down to her bones. Be advised though,
the images are
exceptionally graphic of the burns she suffered and those burns are horrific.
There's hot coffee and there is liquids that are so hot, they burn you right down to your bones within a matter of seconds. Few people laugh after they see what this woman suffered from her "hot coffee". Hot coffee no longer give these types of injuries to adults because of this woman. Next time you buy a cup of coffee and you spill it on yourself, you should thank her. She's the reason you don't end up in hospital with burns down to your bones, requiring multiple skin grafts and surgery.
So next time, get you facts rights before spouting off about something you obviously know nothing about. Look at her injuries. Now imagine if that was your genitals, inner thighs, leg and buttocks. And then tell me that she made out like a bandit. Go on. I dare you.
Edit to add, after noticing your edit..
Some facts about the actual case:
McDonald’s admitted that it has known about the risk of serious burns from its scalding hot coffee for more than 10 years — the risk was brought to its attention through numerous other claims and suits, to no avail;
From 1982 to 1992, McDonald’s coffee burned more than 700 people, many receiving severe burns to the genital area, perineum, inner thighs, and buttocks;
Not only men and women, but also children and infants, have been burned by McDonald’s scalding hot coffee, in some instances due to inadvertent spillage by McDonald’s employees;
McDonald’s admitted at trial that its coffee is “not fit for consumption” when sold because it causes severe scalds if spilled or drunk;
WHAT ABOUT THE “STELLA AWARDS” (NAMED FOR STELLA LIEBECK) CIRCULATING AROUND THE INTERNET?
The Stella Awards, which are supposedly six “crazy” lawsuits, have been circulating around the Internet since May 2001. They are all entirely made up. According to Snopes.com, a website that debunks urban legends, “All of the entries in the list are fabrications – a search for news stories about each of these cases failed to turn up anything, as did a search for each law case.”
In 2003, then Washington Post media columnist Howard Kurtz reported on confronting U.S. News & World Report owner Mort Zuckerman about referencing these fictitious cases. “Great stuff,” said Kurtz after describing two of the crazy lawsuits cited by Zuckerman. “Unfortunately for Zuckerman, totally bogus.… Zuckerman has plenty of company. A number of newspapers and columnists have touted the phantom cases since they surfaced in 2001 in a Canadian newspaper.”
IS THIS USE OF FABRICATED ANECDOTES A NEW THING?
No. The “tort reform” movement has been using exaggerated or fabricated anecdotes to drive their agenda for years. In his 1996 article “Real World Torts,” University of Wisconsin Law School professor Marc Galanter wrote, “Unfortunately, much of the debate on the civil justice system relies on anecdotes and atrocity stories and unverified assertion rather than analysis of reliable data.” Professors William Haltom and Michael McCann illustrate many examples of this in their 2004 book Distorting the Law; Politics, Media and the Litigation Crisis, writing that “tort reformers” typically point to some extraordinary occurrence – some exaggerated or fabricated “horror story” – to symbolize what they want to call “ordinary” about the tort system. The outcomes of these cases are told in such a way as to violate notions of common sense, and to demonstrate injustices and inefficiencies of the tort system, which is said to be of great cost and peril to individual responsibility, economic efficiency, and reason.
For example, the case of Charles Bigbee was the “McDonald’s coffee case” of the 1980s. President Ronald Reagan described Bigbee’s case in a 1986 speech as follows: “In California, a man was using a public telephone booth to place a call. An alleged drunk driver careened down the street, lost control of his car, and crashed into a phone booth. Now, it’s no surprise that the injured man sued. But you might be startled to hear whom he sued: the telephone company and associated firms!”
In fact, Bigbee’s leg was severed after a car hit the phone booth in which he had been trapped. The door jammed after he saw the car coming ‚ he tried to flee but could not. The accident left him unable to walk, severely depressed and unable to work. Because the phone company had placed the booth near a known hazardous intersection, and because the door was defective, keeping him trapped inside, he sued the phone company for compensation.
Consumer groups brought Bigbee and others to testify in Congress in 1986. Bigbee said, “I believe it would be very helpful if I could talk briefly about my case and show how it has been distorted not only by the President, but by the media as well. That is probably the best way to show that people who are injured due to the fault of others should be justly compensated for the damages they have to live with the rest of their lives.” House Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs, July 23, 1986. Charles Bigbee died in 1994 at age 52.
This is why
it's always good to actually have a clue.