McDonald's Coffee Lawsuit - What ACTUALLY happened...

[tolore]

Are you really all telling me, you dont consider a hot cup of coffee you actually have held in your hands dangerous? I mean, i must be living on mars or something. It doesnt matter if its gonna give u 3rd 4th or first degree burns, you should take it into account that its dangerous, whatever the temperature.

so lets pretend that she wasn't and idiot and put the coffee cup in the drink holder till she hit a red light. Then she stopped at a red light, and took a drink, and the coffee destroyed her throat permanently crippling her(assumign she lived). Would she have a case then? At what point does coffee qualify as too hot according to you, never?

 

[Skiwan]

Fair enough, I didn't pay too much attention while reading all I saw was the money figures, the temperature differences and the fact she was trying to open it between her legs, I can understand she'd be looking for money for the medical bills, I forgot to take into account that you have to pay for such things in America, but as for just looking to get money I wouldn't agree with it.

Did I not just say what i thought about drinks in cars Tolore? you wait for your coffee to cool down, it'd take a minute or two to be at a drinkable temperature, maybe Im just too patient with hot drinks or something, other people like to risk burning their mouth.

 

[tolore]

ok what if she wasn't in a car, what if she sat down in the store and took a sip?

 

[Skiwan]

She cant wait till its cool enough to drink? please, these "what if's" are stupid, I always test my hot beverage before I drink it, cuz im not a tard and I dont like burning my mouth, if she's that much of an idiot to drink it while its that hot, its her fault.

 

[frsrblch]

and the coffee destroyed her throat permanently crippling her

How come your hypothetical people all suck at eating? Does she not know how to sip? The worst you could do with coffee is burn your tongue, assuming you don't simply throw you head back and pour the coffee down, but let's give your person a little more credit.

 

[Prozac]

700 people in over 10 year out of the millions of people who goto mc donalds each and every single day.. ( World-wide ofcourse )
Drinking mc donalds coffee is awhole lot safer then getting into my car each morning and driving to work!

 

[[S]]

Drinking mc donalds coffee is awhole lot safer then getting into my car each morning and driving to work!

It is now you can thank her for that.

She cant wait till its cool enough to drink? please, these "what if's" are stupid, I always test my hot beverage before I drink it, cuz im not a tard and I dont like burning my mouth, if she's that much of an idiot to drink it while its that hot, its her fault.

She obviously didn't sip it because it spilled the point of the case is when you spill coffee on your lap by accident or on purpose it shouldn't have been hot enough to cause 3rd degree burns. Any cup of coffee that hot is dangerous say you bought your coffee and were walking out the door and someone bumped into you and the coffee spilled on your face you still want it to be hot enough to cause 3rd degree burns?

How come your hypothetical people all suck at eating? Does she not know how to sip? The worst you could do with coffee is burn your tongue, assuming you don't simply throw you head back and pour the coffee down, but let's give your person a little more credit.

It was an accident it doesn't matter what the person does with the coffee if they want to buy it and pour it down their pants as long as all the coffee does is slightly burns your genitalia and gives you a warm fuzzy feeling it's ok. It's when you get 3rd degree burns from a beverage is when you know it's dangerous.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Really though, she only wanted $20,000 for her medical bills.

It was a jury and a judge who awarded her $2.7 million, later reduced to $640,000, 32 times what she initially asked for.

 

[frsrblch]

McDonald's should start selling their coffee in unopenable sippy-cups.

"McDonald's, because we know you're too stupid not to screw up."

 

[J-Dude]

Jesus, why the Hell do you need coffee to be served at 190 degrees??? What is the reasoning??? You can't drink that without severely burning your tongue and lips! And it's not just coffee and not just McDonalds! I have yet to be served a cup of hot chocolate ANYWHERE that I could actually drink it within 20 minutes of purchase! Drinking those were a chore, not a refreshment! Somebody needs to get some things straight! You certainly don't need to preserve such a high temperature to keep it sterile of bacteria! 140 degrees would do fine! 190 is just stupidity!

 

[Grega]

Here is a fun thing. Drinking in the car while moving should be punishable.

OMG we hit a bump and the driver got it in his face. The result from that can well be an accident. Same reason why there is a law that the person driving isnt allowed to use the mobile phone.

If she only got 3rd degree burns than she got lucky. In the worst case scenario she would have died in an accident killing more people that were in the car.

While Mcdonnalds is at fault for serving hot cofee, i think the jury who stated she is 20% at fault, are a bunch of retards. She was atleast 50% at fault if not more.

Here are the faults as i see them:

1.) You dont hold something betwean your legs if you want to remove the cap unless you have only one hand available (was she driving the car aswell?)

2.) You dont drink in the car. It can kill you and probably someone even if its a cold drink. (I spilled my cola on the driver by accident and we ended up killing someone case the driver got startled and caused an accident. Lets sue the copmpany that made it cause noone said that it can cause accidents)

3.) She held the cup and didnt feel that the thing inside was intensly hot? Doesnt she have the ability to feel the heat. I know I can hardly hold any cup that has something hot enough to butn me (the handle excluded since Mcdonnald cups dont have it [well not in my country]).

Now for the other side:

1.) Serving cofee that can cause 3rd degree burns.



While i agree that Mcdonnalds did a big wrong and deserves a fine. The woman shouldnt see a dolar more than she needs to pay the hospital bill. She is as much at fault as Mcdonnalds.

 

[Optimus Prime]

By the way, this is what a third degree burn looks like.

Changed to URL's click at your own risk. ~Magus


http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/3913/3rdburnthumbxi4.jpg
http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/4751/fullthicknesswz1.jpg

Coffee shouldn't be served at a temperature that can do that.

@Grega: The car wasn't moving.

 

[Skiwan]

She obviously didn't sip it because it spilled the point of the case is when you spill coffee on your lap by accident or on purpose it shouldn't have been hot enough to cause 3rd degree burns. Any cup of coffee that hot is dangerous say you bought your coffee and were walking out the door and someone bumped into you and the coffee spilled on your face you still want it to be hot enough to cause 3rd degree burns?

I was talking about tolores hypothetical person. I was saying when i said that coffee should be considered dangerous at any temperature, that the risk of spilling is still the same, and should be treated as such. The temperature isnt served at that temperature in every branch of macdonalds, and its stupid to assume so, Like i said coffee isnt an exact science, and the temperature its brewed at is dependant on all sorts of things, sometimes it'll be hotter, sometimes colder, so you should take that into account. If I order a cup of coffee that hot, usually you ask for another cup to put the cup into so you can hold it. You should be more careful the hotter it feels. I can understand them being asked to do more checks on the temperature of their coffee makers, and to take more care, more control put in place, but what I couldnt understand is one person getting so much money for being an idiot.

 

[DJ-Ready]

my I just read this whole thread and the whole lawsuid is obviously totally rediculous.

Funny thing is, I just finished drinking my hot coffee when I finished reading the last post.

 

[Grega]

By the way, this is what a third degree burn looks like.

http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/3913/3rdburnthumbxi4.jpg
URLified ~magus

Coffee shouldn't be served at a temperature that can do that.

@Grega: The car wasn't moving.

I see.

Oh and for the record i know what 3rd degree burns look like and what they do. (just in case someone says something about my next statement)

I still wonder. Something that hot to cause 3rd degree burns served in one of Mcdonnalds papercups. Am i stupid or wouldnt you feel the actual heat while holding the cup >.> I mean if its that hot you can feel the heat across something as big as a wodden dor. A Mcdonnalds cup youd feel that the thing inside is to hot. You could hardly hold it. And youd still want to remove the lid?

I know i wouldnt toutch that thing untill it was cool enough for me to hold it without feeling the heat.The pain was herown fault. The hospitalisation was Mcdonnalds fault. Its a 50/50 regarding who was at fault.

 

[[S]]

I was talking about tolores hypothetical person. I was saying when i said that coffee should be considered dangerous at any temperature, that the risk of spilling is still the same, and should be treated as such. The temperature isnt served at that temperature in every branch of macdonalds, and its stupid to assume so, Like i said coffee isnt an exact science, and the temperature its brewed at is not an exact science, sometimes it'll be hotter, sometimes colder, so you should take that into account. If I order a cup of coffee that hot, usually you ask for another cup to put the cup into so you can hold it. You should be more careful the hotter it feels. I can understand them being asked to do more checks on the temperature of their coffee makers, and to take more care, more control put in place, but what I couldnt understand is somebody getting so much money for being an idiot.

She didn't get that money for being an idiot. Mcdonalds lost that money becuase they were negligent it would have been the same for anyone. The jury realized that mcdonalds wouldn't change this policy and hundreds of other people would be burnt because of this so they decided a big settlement would teach them to fix their product and keep people safe this has little to nothing to do with the lady she only wanted her medical bills which we all agree is reasonable the only reason she got that money is to punish mcdonalds.

As for different mcdonalds using different temperatures

"By corporate specifications, McDonald's sells its coffee at 180 to 190 degrees Fahrenheit;"
http://www.centerjd.org/free/mythbusters-free/MB_mcdonalds.htm

"The quality assurance manager further testified that the company actively enforces a requirement that coffee be held in the pot at 185 degrees,"


http://www.atla.org/PressRoom/FACTS/frivolous/McdonaldsCoffeecase.aspx

 

[Optimus Prime]

I've never ordered coffee from a McDonald's before, but most places I go to put a sleeve on the cup, which is actually pretty deceiving in terms of how hot the coffee is versus how hot it feels.

 

[Grega]

I've never ordered coffee from a McDonald's before, but most places I go to put a sleeve on the cup, which is actually pretty deceiving in terms of how hot the coffee is versus how hot it feels.

OK this is my firefighter education speaking. If something is hot enough to cause 3rd degree burns. It radiates heat as much as a lightbulb lit for a while. It heats the air round it as much as the object it is in. No substance can prevent that from hapening. It is a phisical law.

The sleeve may reduce the feeling of heat on the place you are holding it. But it most certanly does not contain the heat radiated through the rest of the cup. Ever tryed that? Put water as hot as that into a cup. And hold it with a rubber sleeve. You may not feel all the heat through the rubber. But you will feel the radiation comming out of the cup abbove and below the sleeve.

Its a basic law of phisics. Ofcourse my statement only holds ground if the cars window was closed. But thats a detail i dont know. But even so. One should allways try holding the cup. Just toutch it . If its to hot your comon sense should say "DO NOT OPEN" If it doesnt than you need professional help cause you dont have comon sense.

And yes i agree that Mcdonnalds should be punished. But giving the woman more than the hospital bills is way to much.

 

[J-Dude]

I'm still waiting for WHY coffee is served that hot. It doesn't make sense. At my house, when we make coffee, it's hot when it's done (not after Mocha Mix add sugar) but I can still put my finger in it and not be instantly scalded. Sure I don't like to prolong it, it's still friggin' hot, but if I spill it on me it'd suck, but I'm not going to have my flesh eaten off!

Those pictures of 3rd degree burns are gross too. Burning is my least favorite way to die. I'm terrified of lava myself. The guy in the 2nd pic looks like he's got a horrible rash, and then someone melted monterey jack cheese over it...it also resembles a zit trying to take over...(pop this, b****)

 

[Zeonix]

Sounds like somebody just learned this in class and needs to share this information with the rest of the world.

McDonalds paid the cash, the woman is happy, and all is well in the world (except for everything that isn't).

Negligence compounded by idiocy equals bad news for everyone. I'm sure she learned not to be stupid, and McDonalds learned not to be so careless.