Liebeck v. McDonald’s Restaurant

We all know about the Liebeck v. McDonald’s Restaurant in 1992, and I bet we all have our own opinion on the incident as well. Some of our opinions is based off the solid facts, and others are just based of what we heard going around in the media. I am here to clear up the facts of the case, and the myths that we can put to rest. Let’s start off with the myths. So, rumor was that middle aged woman drove herself through the McDonald’s drive through for a cup of coffee. When she received the coffee, she put the cup between her legs and drove off. While driving, the lid on the coffee cup popped off and slipped on her lap. From that spill, it was said that she received a minor burn. The media went forth saying that the lady sued McDonald’s for a million bucks! They also stated the McDonald’s was punished for serving hot coffer, but every sales hot coffee…..right? As crazy as that sounds, it is not the hard solid facts of the case. Let’s fall into the facts now. Stella Liebeck was 79 years old at the time of the incident. She was a passenger in her grandson’s car, who was taking her to McDonald’s for a cup of coffee. She ordered the coffee, which was in a Styrofoam cup. After the order was complete, her grandson pulled out of the drive through lane, but then stopped again to allow Stella to add her cream and sugar. While removing the lid, the cup tipped over and poured the entire cup of coffee on her sweatpants. M Craig from Kirkland, Wash., who reminded people: “She was in the passenger seat of a PARKED car when she was scalded. She was not one isolated case of scalding, there were hundreds — which, amazingly, did not move McDonald’s to change their policy on the temperature at which to keep the coffee.” Let’s not mention that the coffee was 190 degrees! Stella suffered from third degree burn over her lap, which included large portions of her inner thighs and other sensitive areas. She was hospitalized for 8 days and went through several painful procedures to clean up the wound. Stella offered to settle her case at $20,000, but McDonald’s her offer. The jury decided to award Stella $200,000 for her injuries. The judge did go behind the jury and reduced it to $160,000, because Stella was at 20% fault for the incident. The jury also awarded her with 2.7 million dollars in punitive against McDonald’s because the coffee was dangerously hot. The judge also reduced that to $480,000. Laura of Brentwood wrote: “She got $500,000 — not the millions reported.” McDonald’s appealed and eventually the case was settled for a undisclosed amount. Know that we all are on the same page; let’s stop giving McDonald’s the benefit of the doubt. McDonald's was never punished. Scott Rochester:"Unfortunately, in America, we no longer have the ability to accept responsibility”), even the proper brewing temperature for coffee.

http://segarlaw.com/blog/myths-and-facts-of-the-mcdonalds-hot-coffee-case/
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/28/booming/storm-still-brews-over-scalding-coffee.html?_r=0