The old lady in the "McDonald's Hot Coffee Case" suffered severe 3rd degree burns on 6% of her body and needed skin grafts. The media blew it up to favor tort reform and the settlement in the case was the calculation of coffee sales McDonalds made in two days

Did you know that the old lady in the “McDonald’s Hot Coffee Case” suffered severe 3rd degree burns on 6% of her body and needed skin grafts. The media blew it up to favor tort reform and the settlement in the case was the calculation of coffee sales McDonalds made in two days.

 

The McDonalds case has spawned a good deal of literature, for an in depth study and analysis of the facts of the case look at A Bloom,W. Halton, Mecam, Java Jive, Genealogy of a Juridical Icon, 56 U. Miami L. Review, 113 (2000); A similar situation in J&M Parsons v. McDonalds, 698 N.E.2d 516 (1998)

 

Here is a somewhat fuller explanation of Stella Liebeck’s suit against McDonalds. As you will see, the coffee temperature can cause third degree burns in a matter of seconds, McDonalds had settled many other cases before Stella’s (and she initially only sought a small amount of money for her daughter’s time away from work and her own medical expenses), McDonald’s lawyer in closing argument blamed the severity of her burns on the fact that she was old and had very thin skin, the punitive award was reduced by the trial judge, and the case was settled for much less than the amount published in the media while the case was on appeal.

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The old lady in the "McDonald's Hot Coffee Case" suffered severe 3rd degree burns on 6% of her body and needed skin grafts. The media blew it up to favor tort reform and the settlement in the case was the calculation of coffee sales McDonalds made in two days