Re: Unbelieveable - could only happen in America

"Bryan K"

On Feb 28 2006 4:19 PM, Bryan K wrote:

All crap. Mcdonalds has since lowered the temperture of its coffee from
28000
degrees to a more normal drinkable temperture.
jim

More importantly, the employees have been trained to not drop items
into customers' laps when they are going through the drive through.


It was coffee. Not molten lava. It was a danger to anyone and I believe
she won
so much money because mcdonalds refused to lower the temperture despite
losing
many previous lawsuits.

You are partially correct, which is actually comforting knowing how many
myths there are surrounding this lawsuit.

Yes, McDonald's had settled over 700 (yes, 700) different lawsuits out of
court from burns and injuries sustained from their hot coffee (about 20
degrees F hotter than the average restaurant), and yet they still, to this
day, will not turn the heat down. In my state, the state health
department requires that coffee be stored and served at at least 140
degrees F. Most restaurants actually store and serve their coffee at 160
to 165 degrees F. McDonald's corporate regulations require that coffee,
for some crazy reason, be stored and served at 185 degrees F.

That's just ridiculous.

You are getting your information from an interesting and certainly not
unbiased source. I do not know the specific number of lawsuits all of the
McDonald's franchises have settled from burns "and injuries" (what else
besides burns?) from their hot coffee. I would not be surprised if it were
not many more than 700 ... there are a lot of McDonald's in the world. I
have represented owners of several franchises of McDonald's and Burger King
and others. Some cases, most cases, are settled for lots of different
reasons. The older lady that got a lot of money was seriously injured.
Whether it was her fault of not, such cases are very difficult for juries.
I suspect the defense attorney was not quite kind enough to this lady ...
but that is speculation on my part. I have found that allowing the attorney
for the plaintiff to lose the case is easier than me trying the win it.
Mostly, such cases are compromises.

The "crazy reason" that McDonald's specifically has their coffee at a hotter
temperature is that their customers like it that way. I know that is a poor
reason for doing anything in the retail world where the government should
tell you what you want and when you should get it, but that is the fact.
One of the reasons that McDonald's is so successful is that they listen to
their customers. Hot coffee will burn you. Some people microwave their
coffee and it is even hotter than 185 degrees. (Water boils at 212, some
people like it that hot when they get it. It cools to their exact
temperature.)

It is not ridiculous to serve a product the way your customers want it. If
anyone wants their coffee at a cooler temperature, they just need to go
somewhere else or wait a few minutes for it to cool. Those that want their
coffee hot cannot get it that way at many places. They go to McDonald's.

A good friend's wife has been a manager at a local McDonald's for over 20
years. She has gone through all of the McTraining and McCollege and
whatever they have to go through to become McManagers, so I think it's
safe to say that she has a McDegree. She's been the source for a lot of
this information. She said that after the lawsuit of 1994 (which an
appeal by McDonald's lowered the settlement from the original $2.7 million
to about $480,000), McDonald's started extensively training their
employees on how, exactly, to hand someone a cup of scalding hot liquid
through a drive through window. I guess part of the lady's argument was
the the coffee was actually dropped into her lap.

I do not think, but cannot be sure, that she ever said that an employee
dropped it in her lap. Such a claim would be almost impossible to defend.
The amount of damages would be the only difficulty. A half a million
dollars for a serious burn would be low or high depending on the
jurisdiction.

Of course, no one ever makes mention of the exact injuries she sustained,
either. The lady was 81 years old, and she suffered third degree burns
that required skin grafts and a 7 day hospital stay. I think it's safe to
say that, given her age, she probably never fully recovered.

I think that most people that know much about the case know that she was
seriously injured. It is possible that even 165 degree coffee would have
done as much damage. One does not even know what the temperature actually
was. The devil is in the details and the individual facts of a particular
case. Any serious injury to a lady 81 years old might easily be fatal or at
least an end of lifestyle incident.

Needless to say, when presented all of the facts, it seems obvious to me
that this lady was entitled to the money she won in the lawsuit.

While not "obvious" to an experienced attorney, there is certainly enough
evidence to say that it was not necessarily a bad verdict or result. The
hype has overshadowed any rational discussion of the case. There is another
one getting attention ... the guy that says that several fast food
restaurants have made him fat. We'll see. (Your URL below is just Trial
Lawyer clap trap trying to rustle up business. They are likely the ones
responsible for the sign on your lawnmower that says: "Keep hands and feet
from contact with turning blade." (There was a similar McDonald's case
involving a milkshake. Guy was driving with it between his legs and had to
swerve to avoid a car and squeezed it and the shock made him veer into
oncoming traffic. Serious injuries, but even though he was hurt, he was not
successful against McDonald's for not warning him that his milkshake was
colder than industry standards and he was not warned of the dangers of
driving while holding a cold milkshake.)

http://lawandhelp.com/q298-2.htm



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