In article ,
"David Hare-Scott" wrote:
Gunny wrote:
Ahh... I understand now. Know it was the stupid rabbit David, not
you. I don't have you in the group that needs a hot coffee warning
label so as to know it might burn if you spill it on you.

Another urban myth for the chattering class.

Seinfeld mocked it. Letterman ranked it in his top ten list. And more
than fifteen years later, its infamy continues. Everyone knows the
McDonald¹s coffee case. It has been routinely cited as an example of how
citizens have taken advantage of America¹s legal system, but is that a
fair rendition of the facts? Hot Coffee reveals what really happened to
Stella Liebeck, the Albuquerque woman who spilled coffee on herself and
sued McDonald¹s, while exploring how and why the case garnered so much
media attention, who funded the effort and to what end.

HOT COFFEE, the movie, a documentary feature film by SUSAN SALADOFF was
selected to premiere and compete in the U.S. Documentary Competition at
the 2011 Sundance Film Festival in Park City.

79 year old Stella Liebeck suffered third degree burns on her groin and
inner thighs while trying to add sugar to her coffee at a McDonalds
drive through. Third degree burns are the most serious kind of burn.
McDonalds knew it had a problem. There were at least 700 previous cases
of scalding coffee incidents at McDonalds before Liebeck's case.
McDonalds had settled many claim before but refused Liebeck's request
for $20,000 compensation, forcing the case into court. Lawyers found
that McDonalds makes its coffee 30-50 degrees hotter than other
restaurants, about 190 degrees. Doctors testified that it only takes 2-7
seconds to cause a third degree burn at 190 degrees. McDonalds knew its
coffee was exceptionally hot but testified that they had never consulted
with burn specialist. The Shriner Burn Institute had previously warned
McDonalds not to serve coffee above 130 degrees. And so the jury came
back with a decision- $160,000 for compensatory damages. But because
McDonalds was guilty of "willful, reckless, malicious or wanton conduct"
punitive damages were also applied. The jury set the award at $2.7
million. The judge then reduced the fine to less than half a million.
Ms. Liebeck then settled with McDonalds for a sum reported to be much
less than a half million dollars. McDonald's coffee is now sold at the
same temperature as most other restaurants.
--
- Billy
³When you give food to the poor, they call you a saint. When you ask why the poor have no food, they call you a communist.²
-Archbishop Helder Camara

http://peace.mennolink.org/articles/...acegroups.html

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth...130964689.html