Current Events > The McDonald's coffee cup incident that lead to a lawsuit was over 30 years ago

(+) Yeah! (+)

On February 27, 1992, Liebeck ordered a 49-cent cup of coffee from the drive-through window of an Albuquerque McDonald's restaurant at 5001 Gibson Boulevard Southeast. Liebeck was in the passenger's seat of a 1989 Ford Probe, which did not have cup holders. Her grandson parked the car so that Liebeck could add cream and sugar to her coffee. Liebeck placed the coffee cup between her knees and pulled the far side of the lid toward her to remove it. In the process, she spilled the entire cup of coffee on her lap. Liebeck was wearing cotton sweatpants; they absorbed the coffee and held it against her skin, scalding her thighs, buttocks, and groin.
Liebeck was taken to the hospital, where it was determined that she had suffered third-degree burns on six percent of her skin and lesser burns over sixteen percent. She remained in the hospital for eight days while she underwent skin grafting. During this period, Liebeck lost 20 pounds (9.1 kg) (nearly 20 percent of her body weight), reducing her to 83 pounds (38 kg). After the hospital stay, Liebeck needed care for three weeks, which was provided by her daughter. Liebeck suffered permanent disfigurement after the incident and was partially disabled for two years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald%27s_Restaurants

Perhaps an earlier example of when the media peddled out clickbait style bullshit before clicking into bait was even a thing. This lady was a punchline and an example of 'how crazy are lawsuits these days?' for decades.

It wasnt until like 2 years ago where I learned the extent of this incident. My entire life I thought she won cause lol coffee too warm

Yea. It's disgusting how society took McDonald's side. I've never dared to look at the injury pictures. But I am told it's pretty horrific. At the time, people were acting like it was a minor burn. Supposedly it literally melted her genitals

I still hear people talking about her as if she's an idiot. McDonald's PR team was extremely successful.

Yeah, McDonald's lost that lawsuit, but they had the money to basically turn the media/public against the poor lady. It's such a shame.

A lot of people still blame the victim for spilling it.

At least I know better now.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


Sadly I don't think she even got that

They awarded Liebeck $200,000 in compensatory damages, which was reduced by 20 percent to $160,000. In addition, they awarded her $2.7 million in punitive damages. According to The New York Times, the jurors arrived at this figure from Morgan's suggestion to penalize McDonald's for two days of coffee revenues, about $1.35 million per day.
The judge reduced punitive damages to $480,000, three times the compensatory amount, for a total of $640,000. The decision was appealed by both McDonald's and Liebeck in December 1994, but the parties settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.

McDonald's successfully got it down to 640k for punitive damages and still appealed. I doubt she got over a million.

Punished_Blinx posted...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald%27s_Restaurants

Perhaps an earlier example of when the media peddled out clickbait style bullshit before clicking into bait was even a thing. This lady was a punchline and an example of 'how crazy are lawsuits these days?' for decades.

Many people still think it was a ludcrious lawsuit and dont realize how badly she was actually burned or how hot the coffee actually was.

Punished_Blinx posted...

Sadly I don't think she even got that

She did.

McDonalds refusing to pay the hospital costs ended up biting them in the ass in the end. I dont remember specifics but I recall that much.

I've seen the photos. Didn't look fun

There's quite a few of these...

Like the man who stole his own car, and got $1.25 million dollars

Or the Aunt who sues her Nephew for $127,000 because he hugged her "aggressively"?

knightmarexx posted...

There's quite a few of these...

Like the man who stole his own car, and got $1.25 million dollars

Or the Aunt who sues her Nephew for $127,000 because he hugged her "aggressively"?

Those would be the opposite of this.

CanuckCowboy posted...

Those would be the opposite of this.

No, they're all very legitimate cases, it's just the "headlines" distorting them.

knightmarexx posted...

No, they're all very legitimate cases, it's just the "headlines" distorting them.

Ahhh. My mistake.

I dont remember anything about the others tbh.

Great episode of the You're Wrong About podcast about this.

CanuckCowboy posted...

Ahhh. My mistake.

I dont remember anything about the others tbh.

The man who "stole" his car, didn't actually steal it - he was fixing it - someone saw him in a "hooded sweatshirt" and then "reported" he stole it, seemingly following him, then calling it in, when he arrived at his own college. He was then followed by the police, and got like quite a few law enforcement tackling him when he exits his own car, kneeing him and stuff - he repeats multiple times it's his own car, and then the Police still try and charge him with "resisting arrest". The footage is quite damning, actually....

The Aunt "had" to sue, because her insurance wouldn't pay out for medical bills otherwise (paid for healthcare....) -- but the "nephew's" who was under his parent's insurance was the actual "thing" getting sued -- not the nephew at all.

Oh damn. I remember the stolen car one now. That was brutal. The other one I vaguely recall but not really.