Remember the lady who spilled coffee on herself and won millions?

[MoneypuckOverlord]

http://www.upworthy.com/ever-hear-about-the-lady-that-spilled-coffee-on-herself-at-mcdonalds-then-sued-for-millions

It's no b.s

[hudson bay rules]

IS THERE AN UPDATE TO THIS VERY OLD STORY ???

I'm not going to sit thru adds and watch an old 12 minute video unless you give me a GOOD reason to.

[The Bookie]

[TOMapleLaughs]

Stella Leibeck has had awards named after her since the incident, awarded to people who filed "outrageous and frivolous lawsuits". A seinfeld episode and lawyer character was based on the incident. This is the mountaintop of what has amounted to a public nightmare for her and her family.

But it wasn't really the person people were griping about, it was lawyers and the american justice system as a whole that people were griping about, imho.

Bottom line is that the coffee was too hot. Most of us were like 'duh!', but thanks to this case, america has become a much, much better place, legally, since 1992. (Hmmmm...)

If that incident happened today, she may have garnered much more support via social media. Back then, we were just fed a bunch misinformation. Most people assumed the burns were minor. They were definitely not, as a simple google images search (yuck) would reveal today. But worthy of a $2.9mil jury verdict? Dunno.

[avelanch]

nothing new here, other than some douche trying to villainize the people who villainized the woman who lacked common sense and set the precedent for frivolous lawsuits in the USA.

[sameer666]

Has anyone here actually seen the damage that was done to her legs which led to her filing the lawsuit?

http://plotmistress.com/wp-content/uploads/mcdonalds-coffee-lawsuit-2-Copy.jpg

Just saying, a lot of people are misinformed regarding the lawsuit and don't know it for what it is. For coffee to go through clothing and do THAT much damage, it has to be pretty darn hot. Not only that, McDonalds had received thousands of complaints that the temperature they were serving their coffee at was too hot, which they chose to ignore. I'm pretty sure anyone here who received those burns would also be trying to sue cause the coffee was too hot.

[Absent Canuck]

Stella's case is real. She was scalded well beyond the pale. However, the 2 million dollar award was nonsense. I think the original $200,000 was plenty considering she spilled the coffee herself. The average person does not stick scalding hot coffee between their legs to hold it.

Its sensitive down there.

[sameer666]

Stella's case is real. She was scalded well beyond the pale. However, the 2 million dollar award was nonsense. I think the original $200,000 was plenty considering she spilled the coffee herself. The average person does not stick scalding hot coffee between their legs to hold it.

Its sensitive down there.

A large portion of the damages were punitive damages by McDonalds for their ignorance of countless complaints on the same issue without making an attempt to remedy the problem.

[Henrik Kesler]

The injuries were very real and very disgusting. I

I remember getting sidetracked on this case when discussing negligence in law school. The reason that the award was so high was because McDonalds had prior knowledge of the coffee being far too hot and repeatedly did nothing. The prior knowledge of the issue and repeated non-fixing of the issue helped to establish the "badness" of the act. By not doing anything with their prior knowledge of the issues with the coffee, McDonalds opened itself up to punitive damages which was why the reward to the plaintiff was so high.

[Armada]

'Murica

[DonLever]

So what happened to her?

[avelanch]

So what happened to her?

Liebeck was in the hospital for a week and had $10,000 worth of medical bills, according to Retro Report. She only sued McDonald's after it refused to pay all of her medical bills, her daughter told Retro Report.

While a jury did award her $2.9 million, the judge drastically cut that amount to about $650,000. The case ultimately settled for about $500,000. (Even plaintiffs who win cases will sometimes end up settling for less money to avoid an appeal.) Her daughter said the mocking news coverage continued to haunt her family.

Read more: http://www.businessi...0#ixzz2ifrrIlef

since she was 79 at the time, odds are fairly good she's no longer with us.

still a self inflicted wound that was easily avoidable (pull over and park before removing the lid to add cream/sugar, don't do it while driving, don't drive over a speedbump once you remove the lid and the cup is firmly placed between your thighs, you know, common sense)

[pdc]

ya the story said she died in 2004. Its too bad her her and her family were ridiculed for so long, but the lawsuit was dumb. I firmly beleive that everyone should be responsible for their own health and safety at all times. If they do something to endanger that(ie spill something on them, drop something on themselves etc) well its their fault and no one elses. But society these days loves to put the blame on anyone but themselves

[n00bxQb]

still a self inflicted wound that was easily avoidable (pull over and park before removing the lid to add cream/sugar, don't do it while driving, don't drive over a speedbump once you remove the lid and the cup is firmly placed between your thighs, you know, common sense)

Wait, what? Under no circumstances should a consumer food product be served in a dangerous state, period. It's completely negligent and utterly insane to think that it's the customer's responsibility to ensure that the product he or she just purchased is safe.

If I served an undercooked hamburger, should it be up to the customer to ensure that it's been thoroughly cooked enough? Should the customer have to take it home to heat it to a point that it's safe to consume?

That's just ridiculous thinking.

[:D]

If any of you had this happen and were told someone would get your thousands of dollars for it, you'd do the same.

Don't blame the woman, blame the litigious society that has taken over American life.

[avelanch]

Wait, what? Under no circumstances should a consumer food product be served in a dangerous state, period. It's completely negligent and utterly insane to think that it's the customer's responsibility to ensure that the product he or she just purchased is safe.

If I served an undercooked hamburger, should it be up to the customer to ensure that it's been thoroughly cooked enough? Should the customer have to take it home to heat it to a point that it's safe to consume?

That's just ridiculous thinking.

i've sent back undercooked food a number of times. if it's easily recognizable (like bloody chicken) or obviously hot coffee, it's common sense. if the coffee was 30 degrees Fahrenheit lower (17 degrees celsius), which is what the lawsuit said it was too hot by, would it then be a smart/reasonable thing for her to do with her coffee? no, it wouldn't. It wouldn't have caused as much damage, true, but it still would have caused damage, which, is the point.

[avelanch]

If any of you had this happen and were told someone would get your thousands of dollars for it, you'd do the same.

Don't blame the woman, blame the litigious society that has taken over American life.

this was the case that started it all though. it created a trend of litigation in 'Merica

[DonLever]

There was a guy who sued the dry cleaners for $67 Million for losing his pants.

This and other strange lawsuits under this link which describes, "The 13 Dumbest Lawsuits in Recent History":

http://www.ranker.com/list/the-13-dumbest-lawsuits-in-recent-history/williammtx

[kyledude]

Did we really need a crotch shot of an 80 year old?

[silverpig]

Did we really need a crotch shot of an 80 year old?

Apparently yes. People are still vilifying her in this thread.

• McD's routinely made their coffee way hotter than standards would dictate
  
• The coffee was supposed to be a consumable beverage, but as it was served it was not consumable
  
• She was in the passenger's seat of a parked car
  
• The coffee spilled on her (hey it happens to everyone at some point), and gave her severe burns (see picture)
  
• She asked McD's to pay her medical, McD's refused
  
• The court case found that McD's had been warned several times to not serve coffee so hot, but they ignored those warnings
  
• Most of those damages were punitive for ignoring the warnings and for general asshatery
  
• The amount was reduced later
  

So yeah, she should have sued and deserved to win