The Dark Truth About The Mcdonalds Hot Coffee Lawsuit. The Real Story Behind the McDonalds Hot Coffee Lawsuit Details Paint a Different Picture.
By Nicholas Conley Dec.
Mcdonalds lawsuit hot coffee. The Dark Truth About The Mcdonalds Hot Coffee Lawsuit. By Nicholas Conley Dec. 19 2019 334 pm EDT.
Youve heard it before. Back in 1992 as most people tell it a woman ordered a hot coffee at McDonalds spilled it and suffered some minor burns only to turn around sue the popular chain restaurant and get rich on. The Real Story Behind the McDonalds Hot Coffee Lawsuit Details Paint a Different Picture.
But did any of us really know the details of the story. With the opening of Ralph. Serious Burn Potential Well-Known.
Liebeck was concerned about the. McDonalds Coffee Lawsuit Facts. Lets set the facts straight about this case.
On February 27 1992 79-year-old Stella Liebeck was sitting in the passenger seat of her 1989 Ford Probe with hot coffee on her lap after going through a McDonalds drive-through window. Her grandson was driving her car which did not have cup holders. These punitive damages were sought in order to send a message to McDonalds that their coffee was dangerously hot.
Liebeck Didnt Get Millions From McDonalds A month after the trial the judge reduced the jurys punitive damages award of 27 million to 640000. McDonalds Hot Coffee and the discovery of the 700 Complaints During discovery Morgan and his team found that between 1982 and 1992 McDonalds received more than 700 reports from consumers burned by their coffee. Reports varied in burn severity but the company spent about 500000 settling burn injury claims in those ten years.
McDonalds argued that their customers knew the coffee was hot and the customers wanted it that way. There was a statement on the side of the cup but McDonalds agreed that it was only a reminder that the coffee was hot. The writing on the cup was not located in a position to serve as an actual warning and McDonalds admitted to this fact.
That amounted to about two days of revenue for McDonalds coffee sales. The trial judge reduced the punitive damages to 480000 while noting that McDonalds behavior had been willful wanton and reckless The parties later settled for a confidential amount. According to news accounts this amount was less than 500000.
McDonalds Hit With 2 hotcoffee lawsuits Consumer News. McDonalds hit with 2 hotcoffee lawsuits Crains McDonalds Corp. Faces two new lawsuits from customers saying they were hurt by spilled hot coffee including a case alleging that a 4-year-old Chicago girl suffered second-degree chest burns and will have permanent scars.
McDonalds then refused all pre-trial settlement offers including a mediator suggested amount of 225000. A 10-day trial took place during which evidence was introduced that McDonalds required its coffee to be served at a temperature between 180 and 190 degrees. Controversy is still brewing over McDonalds hot coffee.
Joan Fino a 74-year-old woman from Clovis Calif is the latest to sue the fast food giant over burns to her groin area that she says were caused by scalding McDonalds coffee. About 14 months ago Fino ordered two cups of coffee from a McDonalds drive-thru. McDonalds Restaurantsmore commonly known as the McDonalds hot coffee lawsuitis often cited as a classic example of frivolous litigation in the United States.
In much of the publics eye Stella Lieback was a greedy plaintiff who spilled warm coffee on her lap while driving and decided to cash in by suing a big corporation for millions of dollars. The lawsuit comes two decades after a New Mexico woman famously sued McDonalds and won a 29 million award for burns she suffered after spilling the fast food chains coffee on. Hot coffee lawsuits have popped up periodically in court ever since Liebeck v.
McDonalds Restaurants better known as the McDonalds hot coffee lawsuit. Stella placed the coffee between her knees so she could use both hands to open the lid and add her sugar. While removing the lid the cup tipped over and poured the entire cup of 190 degree coffee all over her sweatpants which absorbed the hot liquid and held it.
In 1992 Stella Liebeck a 79-year old retired sales clerk bought a 49-cent cup of coffee from a drive-through McDonalds in Albuquerque New Mexico. She was in the passenger seat of a car driven by her grandson. Liebeck placed the cup between her legs and removed the lid to add cream and sugar when the hot coffee spilled out on her lap causing third-degree burns on her groin inner.
Though McDonalds argued that consumers should be aware that coffee is hot the prosecution brought in a thermodynamics expert witness with experience in regards to human skin burns. The expert witness showed that the coffee at McDonalds was kept between 180-190 degrees Fahrenheit most coffee served at home is only 135-140 degrees.