1) hot coffee takes up more room than cold coffee, the hotter it is, the less room it takes up. This only matters when you’re selling a million cups a day.

2) McDonald’s had had MANY, MANY complaints, this was merely the first time someone asked for money. And they could’ve gotten off with no negative PR for $20K, which was all she asked for. They deserve what they get.

I’m sorry, this is a textbook example of a huge corporation considering the cost of doing business, absent morals. It’s exactly the same sort of thing as GE continuously appealing the Hudson cleanup because they didn’t want to post the huge one-time charge until they absolutely had to. Except that this time, the corporation picked wrong.

Perhaps McDonald’s was negligent for not sticking a thermometer in every cup?

Actually, their negligence lied in not paying attention to the thermometer that was already on the coffee pot, even after they were warned about the possibility of injuring their customers.

It’s one thing to burn yourself with coffee from Starbucks or something, but it’s another to get burnt so badly that it requires skin grafts and causes permanent scarring. Even after knowing the risks, they still continued to sell a product that was (at the time of serving) unfit for human consumption. The corporation’s indifference and negligence was what led to the massive punitive damages (which were later drastically reduced).

I know it’s easy to think that people are overreacting because it was a little old lady, or that this is her fault because common sense tells us that coffee is hot, but McDonald’s really were the bad guys here. They kept their coffee much, much hotter than their competitors and relied on the same flimsy cups and lids that everyone else does. With recklessness like that, that old lady’s injury was inevitable.

ps…I wasn’t aware that there was a “legal limit” for coffee temperatures. Perhaps McDonald’s was negligent for not sticking a thermometer in every cup?

What happened was, an 81-year-old woman named Stella Liebeck bought a cup of coffee at McDonald’s. She spilled the coffee while trying to remove the lid to add cream and sugar. She was holding it between her knees. Her grandson was driving.

If the coffee had been below the legal limit in temperature, this would’ve hurt and made a mess. As it was, it was well above the legal limit, almost boiling (180 degrees F), and caused 3rd degree scalds on her inner thighs (6% of her body).

She asked McDonald’s for $20K to cover medical bills, and they refused, so she sued. The jury was so horrified by the case that they awarded a huge settlement ($2.9M), which was knocked down on appeal to $600K.

Here’s a more complete account, including the # of claims that had been filed against McDonald’s previously:

http://www.atla.org/ConsumerMediaResources/Tier3/press_room/FACTS/frivolous/McdonaldsCoffeecase.aspx

Also, I didn’t say the bit about Walmart’s motives in pushing for the WWII memorial; I have no doubt that they were pure PR. Also, while some large companies may be comparatively benign, Walmart is demonstrably evil and is almost single-handedly destroying the American economy.

It would be better if they just admit they are inept and need help from the secular/liberal community/village.

Don’t need your kind of help, thank you very little.

I certainly don’t want the schools teaching religion. Religious doctrine has no place in public school. If you want your kids to be lead in prayer in school, put them in a private school. (I do support vouchers, by the way, so that less-fortunate families who would like their kids to have a religious and/or “art-magnate”-type education can do so.)

I don’t want schools teaching my daughter about birth control and that there is any such thing as “safe” sex (there isn’t). Teach the reproductive system, teach about what contraceptives are, how they work, their effectiveness rates for pregnancy and disease, and leave it at that.

I think I’m pretty consistent here. Let’s teach facts (even as a Christian, I don’t think Biblical doctrine can be called fact in any empirical sort of way) and leave the judgement calls up to the families, mmmkay?
-Keeeef

Um, Keith: that’s not an outmoded way of thinking, it’s the position of most all liberals (with the exception of the unfortunate Tipper Gore types).

Hehe. I know. Taking responsibility for your own kids seems to be a dying philosophy, though.

The whole reason this case is ironic is that conservatives hear something like “a woman burned herself on coffee and was awarded umpteen million dollars” and extrapolate: a) that’s actually what happened and b) that that’s what ALL “frivolous lawsuits” are.

I must have missed something in that story, because that was exactly how I remember it happening. Maybe you can fill me in. My thought, however, is that coffee should be hot, and that if you spill it on your lap its gonna hurt…alot. Maybe even do some serious damage. That’s no one’s fault, except the person who did the spilling. Now, if she had bought some coffee and it was cold, then she might have had a case… ;-)

I wonder, what were the motives behind WalMart’s funding of the WW2 veterans’ memorial? Definitely NOT altruistic, I’d be willing to bet …

As I recall, and I’m certainly not speaking as an expert on the subject, but a group of WWII (the big one) Vets out of Arkansas lobbied to get Wal-Mart to “spearhead” the effort. There is some good PR to be had in such an effort, so yes, there was a business reason, as well.

I’m no fan of Wal-Mart, but I also don’t think its impossible that a company of that size could do something because they think its a good thing to do. There are, afterall, good people who work in the company…even at high levels. I used to work for a very large company. And although the overall spirit of the organization was poor, some of the tops (like the CEO, for instance) were always very kind to me. He even sent me a personal note when my daughter was born (he knew about the difficult time we had getting her here.)

On the other hand, some companies are pricks…
-Keith

The whole reason this case is ironic is that conservatives hear something like “a woman burned herself on coffee and was awarded umpteen million dollars” and extrapolate: a) that’s actually what happened and b) that that’s what ALL “frivolous lawsuits” are. Neither could be further from the truth, and conservatives expose their hypocrisy with cases like this, where their zeal to tell people how to live overcomes their stated positions.

Conservativess like you, who believe in personal responsibility, should understand that there is a huge difference between yourselves and the supposed conservatives currently occupies the White House.