McDonald's and Hot Coffee

In the year 1992 McDonald's was sued by an elderly woman named Stella Liebeck for their coffee being to hot (https://www.caoc.org/?pg=facts). This story was soon spread all over the nation but did people really know the full story? The answer is no. The story that people knew was that she spilled her coffee on herself while she was driving her car. “Typical reaction: Isn’t coffee supposed to be hot? And McDonald’s didn’t pour the coffee on her, she spilled it on herself! Besides, she was driving the car and wasn’t paying attention” (https://www.caoc.org/?pg=facts). Stella was actually a passenger in the car that her grandson was driving and wanted to add cream to her coffee so she asked him to pull over. It was at this point that the coffee spilt into her lap and she received severe burns. “A vascular surgeon determined that Liebeck suffered full thickness burns (or third-degree burns) over 6 percent of her body, including her inner thighs, perineum, buttocks, and genital and groin areas” (http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cur78.htm). Stella wanted to sue McDonald’s for more money than they were willing to give her so she went to court. Stella argued that the coffee should not have been as hot as it was. McDonald’s accepted that they had done something wrong in order to defend themselves. Stella asked McDonald’s for just enough money to pay her medical bills but McDonald’s refused to give her the money. Liebeck’s attorney kept making offers. McDonald’s did not accept any of the offers so the jury had to decide. “The jury awarded Liebeck $200,000 in compensatory damages but dropped this sum to $160,000 since it felt Liebeck was 20-percent at fault for her accident…the punitive damages against McDonald’s…pegged at $2.7 million” (http://mentalfloss.com/article/26862/real-details-hot-coffee-lawsuit). It is not really known for sure whether this settlement occurred but it is known that they did reach an undisclosed out-of-court settlement. McDonald’s is also selling their coffee at a lower temperature.