OFF:Re:McDonalds Incident (was:READ THIS)

[Le Monsieur Damon]

On Mon, 11 Mar 1996, M Holmes wrote:
> IMHO, incidents like the idiot who sued MacDonalds over her spilling hot
> coffee over herself while driving with it in her lap indicate that the
> US has of late become Very Unclear On The Concept of personal
> responsibility.

Ah, now's my chance to jump in...
Here's what *really* happened with the McDonald's suit:
1) The lady did in fact get 3rd degree burns.  (When you're stuck in the
car with your seatbelt on and 140-150 degree liquid in your lap, it will
definitely burn.)
2) She originally did not sue for the millions that she received, but
something more like the medical costs (however much they were) plus maybe
$10,000 more for the trauma or what not.

3) The Courtroom Scene (with paraphrases, of course):
JUDGE/PROSECUTOR: Mr. McDonald's Representative, your coffee is clearly
hot enough to give this kind of injury to a person.  Why don't you simply
lower the temperature of your coffee?

McD'S REP: Your honor, we make $30 million every hour/day [whatever he
said... McD's is a big chain] on our coffee alone because it is the
hottest coffee anyone can get.  Any customer can come to McDonald's on
his way to work, get his coffee, drive in rush hour traffic, go to a top
floor office, get set up and then drink his coffee, and it will still be
hot.  The other chains cannot say the same.  That is why we refuse to
lower the temperature of our coffee.

[later]
JUDGE'S DECISION:  I award the victim an amount equal to the profit in
coffee sales that McDonald's generates in one hour.

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