(Before anyone corrects me on the MacDonalds case, I don't know the exact numbers here. But it is my general recollection that the jury award was as least as much as what I said.)
Borrowed from web sources:
1. The injured person, Stella Liebeck was a passenger, not the driver;
2. The car was stopped not moving;
3. The cup spilled when Ms. Liebeck, while seated attempted to remove the lid to add creme and sugar;
4. A vascular surgeon testified Ms. Liebeck suffered third degree burns on 6% of her body, including her inner thigh, perineum, buttocks, genital and groin area.
5. Ms. Liebeck was hospitalized for 8 days with skin graft operations. (Pretty unusual in today's HMO attitude of "get them out today" mentality.)
6. Ms. Liebeck only wanted McDonalds to pay her medical bills, which McDonald's refused, requiring a lawsuit to be filed.
7. Evidence was presented showing more than 700 claims were made by people burned with McDonald's coffee, proving McDonalds knew there was a problem with the temperature.
8. McDonald's keeps its coffee at 180-190 degrees Fahrenheit to obtain optimum taste but in having it so hot McDonalds never considered the safety hazards of such extreme heat conditions.
9. Coffee at other establishments is much lower (in the range of 135-140 degrees Fahrenheit).
10. McDonald's admitted that a burn hazard exists for food served at over 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
11. McDonald's admitted that when served at 180-190 degrees Fahrenheit, the coffee is not fit for human consumption because it will burn the mouth/throat.
12. McDonald's testified it had no intention of reducing the temperature of the coffee.
13. McDonald's own surveys introduced at trial confirmed that it knew customers intended to consume the coffee while driving.
14. McDonald's knew the customers were unaware of the third degree burn capability of the coffee but failed to warn.
15. The jury awarded $200,000.00 in compensation damages but reduced it by 20% for fault attributed to Ms. Liebeck.
16. The jury award of $2.7 million represented 2 days of coffee sales at McDonald's stores.
17. The trial court reduced the $2.7 million award to $480,000.00 even though the trial judge himself called McDonald's conduct reckless, callous and willful.
As usual, I will be slammed for highlighting the truth.
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