I have heard dozens of people talk about frivolous lawsuits and the most common example people give is “The McDonald’s Hot Coffee Lawsuit.”
That answers frustrates me because most of the people who use that as an example have never read the lawsuit. Most people believe a woman spilled her coffee on herself and then sued McDonalds. The rationale for why this is frivolous is that “everyone knows coffee is hot.” But the facts of the case provide much more detail into why she brought the lawsuit, what she was asking for, and what McDonalds did (and failed to do) before she was injured.
The case was based on a 1992 incident when a 79 year old woman, Stella Liebeck, purchased a cup of coffee in a McDonald’s drive thru. The McDonald’s at the center of this lawsuit was in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Ms. Liebeck was the passenger in a car that was stopped in the McDonald’s parking lot when she removed the lid to add cream/sugar. While she the lid was off of the coffee, it spilled onto her lap.
The coffee that spilled on Ms. Liebeck’s lap was not just “hot.” The corporate policy in place for McDonald’s at the time was to serve the coffee at a temperature that could cause serious burns in mere seconds. Ms. Liebeck did in fact suffer third-degree burns and required skin grafts on her thighs and genital area.
And this wasn’t the first time Mcdonald’s learned of the danger of their coffee. More than 700 other complains of injuries and burns had resulted in a number of prior settlements. But the policy did not change.
Before trial, Ms. Liebeck offered to settle the case for $20,000 to cover her medical expenses and her lost income. Mcdonald’s declined to settle, never offering Ms. Liebeck more than $800 to settle her claim.
The evidence at trial showed:
McDonald’s operations manual instructed each franchise to serve its coffee at 180-190 degrees Fahrenheit.
If spilled, coffee at 180-190 degrees Fahrenheint could cause third-degree burns in less than 10 seconds (3-7 seconds).
McDonald’s was aware of the risk of serving hot coffee for over a decade. Multiple claims and lawsuits had alleged similar facts as Ms. Liebeck’s case.
McDonald’s admitted at trial that it did not warn customers of the nature and risk of the coffee, providing no explanation as to why they did not warn customers.
When the case was turned over to the jury, the jury found that because McDonald’s had notice, or awareness, of other injuries and they still kept their policy the same, that the punitive damages should be the equivalent of two days’ worth of revenue from the coffee sales for the restaurant chain. Thus, the punitive damage award was nearly $3 million.
Did Ms. Liebeck receive $3 million? In short, no. The jury found her partially at fault for the spill which reduced her award, and the judge also reduced the punitive damage awarded further. To avoid further appeals, Ms. Liebeck and McDonald’s reached a confidential settlement.
Once you know more of the facts, it is clear that the “hot coffee” lawsuit was not frivolous. The plaintiff in the case just wanted her medical bills taken care of; and McDonald’s refused to pay…until the verdict came in.
Cases get misconstrued in the media but Failure to Warn cases are incredibly important. Whether it is food, medications, or medical devices, when a company markets a product to customers they must inform the customers of the risks. If you live in America and have seen a commercial for any medicine, it is hard to ignore the warnings that they list, but even still, some companies leave out the scariest possible side effects to maximize their profit.
Plaintiff’s lawyers in these civil lawsuits look at the facts, what the company knew and when they knew it.
The world is a safer place because Ms. Liebeck brought her claim and raised awareness of the “hot coffee.”
While there are frivolous lawsuits out there, there are systems in place that allow attorneys to move to have these cases dismissed. But that McDonald’s hot coffee case, was not frivolous. Ms. Liebeck suffered and a company refused to pay her even just her medical bills.
I am grateful for Ms. Liebeck and her attorneys for drawing attention to the issue of the extremely hot coffee. McDonald’s serves billions daily, and they are liable to each of their customers for every product they sell.
Did you learn something from this post? Have you heard about this case? Let me know your thoughts.