The Woman Burned by McDonald's Hot Coffee

[Blake Bowden]

Wow, I never knew just how much the media spun this...

[video=youtube;pCkL9UlmCOE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCkL9UlmCOE[/video]​

 

[BryanMaloney]

What is scarier, the media spin or the willingness of so many people to just swallow that spin uncritically. I get told that I ask too many questions and should just "do what you're told". I've seen too much of the world to live like that.

 

[cacarter]

Wow, neither did I. Guess this gives weight to the saying "it's not what is being said, it's what is NOT being said."

 

[jvarnell]

I am with McDonalds she should take responsibility. The only thing McDonalds did wrong was to not put the temperature on the cup. (But she would not have understood anyways) Does anyone understand how many cups of coffee are returned because of someone saying they are cold each day. How many degrees it reduces each second. I don't think it is a laughing mater but I do think the outcome is what the jury looked at not what happened and personal responsibility. Should she have put the cup on a proper and safe surface before opening it? She violated all OSHA rules on opening containers.

 

[dfreybur]

I am with McDonalds she should take responsibility. The only thing McDonalds did wrong was to not put the temperature on the cup.

What she did was idiocy. She put the cup of hot between her legs and stopped paying attention to it as she drove away. In that situation all it took to press the top open was a small leg movement like pushing the brake. Inevitable given where she put the cup. She was far from being in the right.

That said, McD was also far from being in the right. In that era the coffee at McD was so hot it scalded. Far too hot to even sip. I experienced how hot they served it and didn't get a coffee there for several years it was so out of line. So what did they do? Fight the suit and keep their coffee unacceptably hot for a few more years until they finally quietly relented and switched it back to the common temperature that almost every chain targets.

 

[Blake Bowden]

They should've accepted her settlement offer from the beginning. Seemed reasonable.

 

[BryanMaloney]

That particular McDonald's had already been cited by the Health Department for having their coffee hotter than what was permitted. That doesn't stop some people who worship money from pretending there was no liability to go around.