Before laughing at US laws, following are the facts from Liebeck v. McD
- Plaintiff suffered spilled her coffee and suffered 3rd degree burns to 6% of her skin and lesser burns to 16% of her skin.
- McD required franchisees to hold coffee at 180 to 190 F. At 190 F, liquid causes 3rd degree burn in 2 to 7 seconds. Other establishments hold at lower temp. Liquid at 160 would take 20 seconds to cause 3rd degree burn.
- From 1982 to 1992, McD settled over 700 coffee burn cases for over $500K. Their initial offer to Liebeck was $800 and McD rejected Liebeck's initial offer of $20K (actual and anticipated medical expenses). Quality control manager determined the number settlements and expenses were insufficient to warrant review of company practices regarding coffee temp.
- Jury awarded 160K in actual damages and 2.7 million in punitive damages. Judge reduced it to over 600K. Parties eventually settled pending appeal.
Nevertheless, subsequent coffee lawsuits have been dismissed because courts have found the 180 to 190 is not an unusual temperature for coffee in restaurants (something McD's attorney's failed to contest in Liebeck). Attorney's in subsequent cases have focused on getting plaintiffs to acknowledge that they knew that hot coffee could burn. Still Liebeck and Grimshaw v. Ford (the Pinto case) serves as a good reminder to businesses: even if you think you can write off the occasional settlements that better business practices may avoid, being a good corporate citizen is the better practice. In other words, don't be an *** and expect sympathy from the jury.