|
Automobile Accidents/Personal Injury
Worker's Compensation
Defective Products
Medical Malpractice
Nursing Home Abuse/Neglect
Social Security Disability
Family Law
| |
How many times have you heard jokes or diatribes about the "McDonalds
case?" You know the one: the old lady was burned by coffee and got a
gazillion dollars from a jury. Individuals and groups, such as the insurance
industry and big business constantly use this case as the example of why
there must be tort reform in the form of laws to prevent injured people from
having their day – fairly – in court.
What you haven’t heard from the
"big lie" propaganda machine are the actual facts of the case, and the
reasoning behind the New Mexico jury’s decision to compensate Stella Liebeck
in the amount of $2.9 million for her injuries. Consider these facts:
-
There had been over 700 prior
incidents of injuries from McDonald’s coffee that had been reported to the
company and were present in company documents. They ranged in severity from
minor burns to third degree burns, and resulted in numerous claims, some
settling for over $500,000. Several cases involved children.
-
Prior to the lawsuit,
McDonald’’s sold its coffee at 190 degrees Fahrenheit. Coffee you serve
in your home is between 135 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Water that is found
in your car radiator is 180 degrees Fahrenheit. At 190 degrees, it takes
less than three seconds to produce a third degree burn, while at 160 degrees
it takes about 20 seconds.
-
The coffee inflicted third
degree burns on Stella Liebeck's groin, inner thighs and buttocks,
necessitating seven days in the hospital for extensive skin grafts and
debridement treatment. Photographs vividly demonstrated the severity of
these burns, which covered six percent of her body.
-
A McDonald’s executive
testified that McDonald’s knew its coffee caused serious burns. McDonald’s
also consciously decided not to warn people of the dangers concerning the
temperature of its coffee and had no intention of changing that temperature.
-
One week after the lawsuit,
McDonald’s changed its coffee temperature reducing it by 20 degrees.
-
Despite Stella Liebeck's
$20,000 in medical bills, McDonald’s only offered her $800 to settle her
case. Stella Liebeck stated she would have never brought the suit had
McDonald’s been willing to pay her medical bills.
-
The award by the jury was
actually $200,000 to compensate Stella Liebeck for her serious injuries, and
$2.7 million to punish McDonald’s for its callous disregard of its
customers.
-
The Plaintiff, Stella Liebeck,
was found 20 percent at fault, which resulted in the compensatory damage
award of $200,000 being reduced to $160,000.
-
The jury returned this
verdict despite the efforts of McDonald’s’ lawyers, who were, we may
assume, highly paid and extremely good attorneys.
Given these facts, in the light of day, it becomes much more reasonable
and understandable why McDonald’s got hit for those verdicts. While our system
of justice has problems, it still is the best in the world. The way things are
now, any person injured as a result of negligence has a chance at justice before
a jury of his or her peers.
The propaganda surrounding the "McDonald’s case" is nothing
more than an organized effort to take away from victims of negligence their
access to justice in the courts. At Slovis, Rutherford & Weinstein,
P.C., we strongly believe in the rights of regular people to seek and receive
justice – in the courts, if necessary. We applaud the Liebeck case as an
example of how our system should work, even in the face of opposition – then
and now – from corporate America.
|
