THE MCDONALD'S HOT COFFEE AND ITS FALLOUT

The Stella Awards ● Named after Stella Liebeck and the McDonalds case ● Given to wild, ridiculous, outrageous lawsuits ● Lasted from

MCDONALDS HOT COFFEE LAWSUIT FRIVOLOUS? ● Talk Show Host David Letterman featured it twice on of his famous Top 10 Lists ● Top 10 Dr. Kevorkian Tips For the Summer ● 4. Take a bunch of friends to McDonalds. Pour hot coffee on them ● Top 10 Blizzard Tips ● 8. Clean off driveway with one scalding hot cup of coffee from McDonalds

McDonald's Lawsuit and Pop Culture Seinfeld Episode Featured Hot Coffee Spoof

The Real Story ● 79 year old Stella Liebeck went through the drive through at McDonalds with her Grandson ● Bought 49cent cup of coffee, placed between her knees to put cream and sugar in and top came off- car was parked at the time

The Real Story (continued) ● Spilt coffee on thighs, buttocks, causing 2 nd and 3 rd degree burns- ● Liebeck wanted $ for medical expenses ● McDonalds offered $800 ● Coffee was found to be served at severely hot temperature

Verdict ● 2.9 million was decided by the verdict, or which Liebeck was entitled to 80% under the guidelines of contributory negligence and comparitive blameworthiness ● Eventually got reduced to $

HOT COFFEE....THE MOVIE

Hot Coffee The Movie ● Title inspired by Stella Liebeck's Case and details four struggles for justice ● Shot documentary style and starts with Stella Liebeck's case vs McDonalds

Case #2: Colin Gourley ● Born with Cerebral Palsy at birth due to medical malpractice ● Awarded 5.6 million dollars at trial, due to Nebraska state law cap, only got 1.25 million dollars ● His struggle, along with his family is documented

Case #3: Oliver Diaz ● U.S. Politician Karl Rove sought to remove elected judges who were against capping tort awards ● Diaz was a judge that was targetted and big business tried to get him voted out ● Did not work, but a way was found to remove him via bogus charges ● Inspired John Grisham's book The Appeal

Case #4: Jamie Leigh Jones ● Jones accused her coworkers of rape while working in Iraq for KPR/ Haliburton ● Could not file criminal charges and forced arbitration clause in contract meant she lost her right to jury trial- ● Sen Al Franken won right to have this clause removed

McDonalds Hot Coffee Cases...Still Happening ● SURREY BC: Nancy Saad suing because the coffee she ordered at a drive through spilt on her after the lid popped off ● Has burns to lower part of body, is in pain, post traumatic stress disorder, mental illness ● Seeking compensation

Cook County Illinois ● 4 year old Lynn Abedal misheard her Grandmother's request to throw away her coffee cup- she went to get her a refill ● Given a cup w/ lid not secured and spilt it on herself taking it to her grandmother ● Got 2 nd degree burns- lawsuit is for $ 1.4M

Rockford, Illinois ● 35 yr old Melissa Pettigrew burned her thighs and abdomen after she ordered a coffee at a drive through and it got spilled ● Husband has suffered “Loss of Consortium” ● Unsafe lids, inproper training part of law suit

Is this the new version of the McDonalds Hot Coffee Case? ● 59 year old Wayne Watson (left) won 7.2M lawsuit for “popcorn lung” ● Had inhaled butter flavoured popcorn for years ● discovered that company should have warned him of the effect of diactyl (a harmful part of buttered popcorn) ● Company 80% responsible, while Kroger Supermarket 20% responsible ● 43 workers at a popcorn plant have filed class action suit- earlier cases settled for 37M

You Want To Sue Me? Just Try and Catch Me!