In the 90s I read about an amusing lawsuit against Mc D. A lady spilled coffee on herself and got burnt and sued Mc D claiming that the coffee had been extremely hot, hotter than what one would expect. I couldn’t help thinking- do we not pay to get hot coffee, and if we choose to have it hot then why would we be upset about it being hot?
The lady at the centre of coffee case was 81 year old Stella Liebeck. She was in a car when she accidentally spilled Mc D’s coffee on herself and suffered third degree burns on her body. Contrary to general belief she was not driving, and the car was actually pulled over, for her to add sugar to her coffee, when she spilled the coffee over herself. Initially she just wanted Mc D to pay for her medical expenses which they refused, stupid decision in retrospect. So she went on to sue and walked away with two plus million in damages, which was later reduced.
Now the National Coffee Association recommends that coffee should be brewed at 195- 205 degrees Fahrenheit for optimal extraction and drunk immediately (guaranteed to give you a scalding throat or money back). If not drunk immediately, the coffee should be maintained at 180-185 degrees Fahrenheit. Mc D were doing something similar, they served coffee at 180-190 degrees Fahrenheit. But in the ten years preceding the famous coffee case, more than 700 people had suffered from burn injuries ranging from mild to serious resulting in complaints and lawsuits. The issue was coffee at that temperature was capable of causing severe third degree burns (shocker) and there was no warning to the customers of the risk.
Public opinion continues to be divided on whether it was a just case or not, and where does responsibility for your own actions kick in? But the coffee case definitely left a legacy; it inspired the Stella awards for the most frivolous, ridiculous and often successful cases and more importantly it got all the companies to print "HOT" on the caps of hot beverages saving thousands of unsuspecting hot beverage drinkers from getting burnt.
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