Teenage criminal sues and gets £567,000.

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If you'd care to see American judicial stupidity, check out www.stellaawards.com - named after the woman who sued McDonalds over the hot coffee. The stupidity of the jurors is exceeded only by that (and the greed) of the plaintiffs. :barf:
 
c) Coffee is HOT, it has to be for the brewing process to work properly.
d) What kind of moron places a flimsy styrofoam cup between their legs when it is full of steaming nuclear hot fluid??


BTW, Stella's award was overturned on appeal when saner minds had their say.
 
I recently heard that McDonalds used to keep thier coffee temperature around 180 or so to keep it fresh longer. They also reported most places coffee temps are closer to 140-150. That would explain the burns being so severe. I remember not being able to drink McDonalds coffee for 15-20 minutes after buying a cup and I like my coffee hot.
 
I like to read stories like this, mostly because it proves that at least we have company in the idiotic "justice" system department. :banghead:
 
Not sure how keeping coffee hotter would keep it fresher longer. Leave your joe on a cheap pot burner that sits at one maximum temp and see how long it lasts before it wrestles the cup from your hands and smacks ya with it. :)

My first wife did the same with coffee from Hardees looong before Stella had her burst of stupidity. The ex got well and truly burned. We never even thought of suing Hardees. The leap from her stupidity to it somehow being their fault was one we couldn't make and this is what speaks volumes to me about those who do make such leaps. Nevermind the actual settlements, how offensively stupid and/or dependent and/or immoral does one have to be to even try?

Yeesh.
 
Just to play devil's advocate, here are the facts of the hot-coffee case as I've heard them:

1. The lid was not on all the way.
2. They handed her the cup in such a way as to allow her to grasp it only by the lid.

Thus the cup fell out from under her hand. Their fault.
 
Re McDonald's and only speaking to the temperature:

I dug out the BossLady's meat thermometer and brewed a pot of coffee. Dunno the brand name of the coffee maker, but there's millions just like it all over the country.

It brewed at 186 F. That's the temperature that the coffee in the pot on the hotplate part is held to, also.

I poured coffee into a mug. 176 F by the time I'd sugared and stirred it. I walked to the living room and took a sip at 167 F.

What I've read of the McDonald's deal was that the coffee was at 186 F in the pot.

One test beats a thousand expert opinions.

Art
 
I spent just over a year working in a gourmet coffee shop, we would periodically dump the coffee and brew fresh because it gets stale after a while at the high temperatures necessary to brew. On the other hand if you lower the temperature you make a breeding ground for bacteria. Oh and she wasn't even at the drive through when the spilled the coffee, her grandson (who was driving) had pulled over for her to add sugar and cream to her coffee. Here is some info gleaned from http://www.stellaawards.com/stella.html :

Stella was not driving when she pulled the lid off her scalding McDonald's coffee. Her grandson was driving the car, and he had pulled over to stop so she could add cream and sugar to the cup.

Stella was burned badly (some sources say six percent of her skin was burned, other sources say 16 percent was) and needed two years of treatment and rehabilitation, including skin grafts. McDonald's refused an offer to settle with her for $20,000 in medical costs.

McDonald's quality control managers specified that its coffee should be served at 180-190 degrees Fahrenheit. Liquids at that temperature can cause third-degree burns in 2-7 seconds. Such burns require skin grafting, debridement and whirlpool treatments to heal, and the resulting scarring is typically permanent.

From 1982 to 1992, McDonald's coffee burned more than 700 people, usually slightly but sometimes seriously, resulting in some number of other claims and lawsuits.

Witnesses for McDonald's admitted in court that consumers are unaware of the extent of the risk of serious burns from spilled coffee served at McDonald's required temperature, admitted that it did not warn customers of this risk, could offer no explanation as to why it did not, and testified that it did not intend to turn down the heat even though it admitted that its coffee is "not fit for consumption" when sold because it is too hot.

While Stella was awarded $200,000 in compensatory damages, this amount was reduced by 20 percent (to $160,000) because the jury found her 20 percent at fault. Where did the rest of the $2.9 million figure in? She was awarded $2.7 million in punitive damages -- but the judge later reduced that amount to $480,000, or three times the "actual" damages that were awarded.
But...

The resulting $640,000 isn't the end either. Liebeck and McDonald's entered into secret settlement negotiations rather than go to appeal. The amount of the settlement is not known -- it's secret!

The plaintiffs were apparently able to document 700 cases of burns from McDonald's coffee over 10 years, or 70 burns per year. But that doesn't take into account how many cups are sold without incident. A McDonald's consultant pointed out the 700 cases in 10 years represents just 1 injury per 24 million cups sold! For every injury, no matter how severe, 23,999,999 people managed to drink their coffee without any injury whatever. Isn't that proof that the coffee is not "unreasonably dangerous"?

Even in the eyes of an obviously sympathetic jury, Stella was judged to be 20 percent at fault -- she did, after all, spill the coffee into her lap all by herself. The car was stopped, so she presumably was not bumped to cause the spill. Indeed she chose to hold the coffee cup between her knees instead of any number of safer locations as she opened it. Should she have taken more responsibility for her own actions?
And...

Here's the Kicker: Coffee is supposed to be served in the range of 185 degrees! The National Coffee Association recommends coffee be brewed at "between 195-205 degrees Fahrenheit for optimal extraction" and drunk "immediately". If not drunk immediately, it should be "maintained at 180-185 degrees Fahrenheit". (Source: NCAUSA.) Exactly what, then, did McDonald's do wrong? Did it exhibit "willful, wanton, reckless or malicious conduct" -- the standard in New Mexico for awarding punitive damages?
Click to expand...
 
Some US juries are nutty enough to give little old ladies millions, but I know of NO US juries willing to give trespassing criminals rewards. Even in the case of spring gun injuries, many juries have refused to find for the criminal.
 
Cosmoline,

I remember from the Stella awards a few years ago, they cited a suit where a home burglar got trapped in a garage while he was robbing the house. He had to eat dog food and drinks from the fridge in the garage, and was discovered when the family got back from vacation. They awarded him ~$100k in damages!!

And another criminal tripped on a child's toy on some stairs of a house he was robbing and was injured...he was also awarded money.

That kind of thing happens here as well.
 
Agricola,
I don't think it matters how old he was at the time of the incident, he was still breaking the law by trespassing on private property. He was running across the roof of a privately owned building! I feel bad that he got hurt but he should have known better.
 
Interesting that the owners of the warehouse didn't countersue for the roof damage. So the award justifies the trespass. Reminds me of the N.Y. transit cop who shot a mugger in the act back in the early '90's. The mugger was crippled and sued. His basis was that he could not work (as a mugger) at his "trade". The court was convinced that his "trade" was, in fact legitimate and he was awarded some outrageous sum. The cop countersued to keep him from ever enjoying any of it. I never did find out if the cop was successful. Just remember, it's always someone else's fault.
Josh
 
You guys are just being silly. You have to understand:

It is never your fault; it is always society’s fault. You are blameless for any and all misfortune. It is your right that others must pay your way. You have the right to other people’s labor and property.

From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. It is really that simple.

Oh yeah, by the way, the British who once were at the top of it all, no longer have an automobile industry that is British owned and really do not have much of any industry left. But they do have their entitlements now don’t they?

Oh what’s this? GM going under? Serves them right. Now where are my entitlements?

From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.
 
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