The One and Only Poldaran wrote:
His Excellency Aethien wrote:
Sorry, I forgot about how @#%^ing stupid people are.
You should really look up the pictures of the burns and the facts of that case. It really, really was McDonald's fault.
The actual court findings attributed 20% of the blame to the woman, for placing the cup between her legs and opening it to begin with. McDonalds was found 80% responsible.
The crutch of this case was that the temperatures McDonalds policy said their coffee should be served at could cause third degree burns in 2-7 seconds (and it seems likely, given the state of her industries, that her coffee was far hotter than it should have been even by their standards). It was considered too hot to serve the liquid at for immediate consumption, particularly at those temperatures, and without any warning. That may not be entirely accurate, regarding serving coffee at those temperatures. That said, most retailers have serving ranges that aren't
quite that high, but they're damn close, and they put the hot warning on the cup to cover their asses (and it has been a largely effective defense). Since warnings started be placed, I don't think anyone else has lost a lawsuit.
It's also worth noting that McDonalds had a ton of chances to settle before this case ever went to court, and that they originally only offered the woman $800 for her $12k in hospital bills. And all she was seeking, I believe, was for them to cover those. I don't think she even sought punitive compensation at first.