McDonald's Comlaints

In the absence of more important material, today I want to talk about people who complain about the court system. Before I do, I want to say that I believe our court system has MANY MANY problems, and I do think juries have, in many cases, awarded damages that were out of control. I agree that there are lawyers in American worried only with making more money in torts cases at the expenses of anybody and anything. Mass torts lawyers are one such breed. That said, many of the complaints leveled on our legal system are incorrect or misinformed. A great example of this is the idea that "tort law is just a bunch of ambulance chasers looking to make a quick buck. The case that is always given as the ultimate example of this is the McDonald's coffee case, aka Stella Liebeck v. McDonald's Corporation.

The story that is often told by those that try to use it as an example of corruption is that a lady ordered a cup of coffee and while driving away spilled it, burned herself, and sued McDonald's winning millions of dollars. One of the strengths of this version is that it both proves the point of lawyers as crooks, and more importantly, it is true.

The problem with this account isn't that the facts that are given are false (they are very true), it is that many important facts are omitted. For example, the coffee wasn't just hot, it was dangerously hot. It was drastically hotter than coffee that is served in restaurants, and it was far hotter than the temperature that it is recommended coffee be served at for optimal taste. Big deal you say? Coffee is supposed to be hot you point out? This is true, and consistent with the version people are often told, but what isn't told is that the coffee was SO HOT that it could actually cause burns to the throat if drank. Most people expect hot coffee, but not coffee so hot that when it is consumed it could damage your body. Nobody expects food to be served in a fashion that is not save to be consumed.

The next complaint is something like, she spilled it on herself and didn't do anything about it, she should know she would be burned. From the moment she spilled she had 10 seconds to get out of her clothes and get the coffee off of her skin to avoid severe burns. That is not much time, especially when you consider she was in a car in the middle of a parking lot.

Finally, McDonald's would have you believe that she generated huge damages from a simple burn. This is again false. She had to be hospitalized, her entire lower body (including her gentiles) suffered massive burns. Skin needed to be grafted from other parts of her body. This wasn't just a little burn.

Oh and did we mention this had happened hundreds of times before but nobody had the courage to take the case to court?

I'm not saying one side is right or wrong, I am not saying that there aren't flaws in our legal system. What I am saying is that when you hear cases like this, find them and read the details. More often than not, the details are different than the original story. So make all the judgments you want, just make sure they are based on real cases.

Oh, and I looked around on the internet all day for the case of the burglar that fell through a roof and landed on a knife and sued the homeowner, but I cannot find it anywhere... I tend to believe there is no such case and that it is urban myth... But if somebody finds it feel free to straighten me out.