{"id":2127,"date":"2012-01-11T14:16:28","date_gmt":"2012-01-11T20:16:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bgs.com\/?p=2127"},"modified":"2012-01-11T14:16:28","modified_gmt":"2012-01-11T20:16:28","slug":"the-mcdonalds-hot-coffee-case-separating-fact-from-fiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/11\/the-mcdonalds-hot-coffee-case-separating-fact-from-fiction\/","title":{"rendered":"The McDonald's Hot Coffee Case: Separating Fact from Fiction"},"content":{"rendered":"

It seems most everyone has heard about the McDonald\u2019s \u201cHot Coffee\u201d verdict, however, it may well be one of those \u201cfacts\u201d we remember without really knowing how we every learned them. Furthermore, most people repeat those \u201cfacts\u201d without ever learning whether or not they were true.
\nMost people assume that the Plaintiff carelessly spilled hot coffee on her self and ended up with millions of dollars. Many people then argue that this exemplifies the \u201cfact\u201d that there are too many lawsuits and juries give out ridiculous verdicts to the undeserving.
\nHowever, the facts are decidedly to the contrary. The Plaintiff, Stella Liebeck, was 79 years old when she bought a cup of coffee at McDonalds and got into her son\u2019s car. The car did not have a console area to set her cup while she was riding as a passenger. She placed the cup between her knees while she was pulling off the lid and the cup spilled.
\nUnlike most of the coffee that people make at home or buy from most any other restaurant, McDonald\u2019s coffee was 180\u00b0. Most other coffee is heated to between 135-140\u00b0, a temperature that will not produce third-degree burns. However, McDonald\u2019s, based on a consultant\u2019s advice, brewed their coffee to 180-190\u00b0.
\nI\u2019ve heard different versions as to why McDonald\u2019s did so. Some say it was to discourage people from getting refills of coffee and others said that McDonald\u2019s wanted the purchaser\u2019s coffee to still be hot after they returned home or to their office. Regardless of what is true, the fact remains that McDonald\u2019s made a conscious decision to brew its coffee to a temperature that would cause third-degree burns when few others, if anyone else, did.
\nMcDonald\u2019s knew that its coffee could cause third-degree burns and it received numerous complaints about such burns. McDonald\u2019s employees admitted that brewing its coffee to 180\u00b0 made it too hot to drink.
\nThe Plaintiff, Mrs. Liebeck, sustained third-degree burns to her inner thighs, genitals, groin and buttocks. She was hospitalized for eight days and underwent skin grafting operations. Her weight dropped from 103 pounds to 83 pounds. McDonald\u2019s refused an opportunity to settle her claim for $90,000 initially and rejected a mediator\u2019s suggestion they pay $225,000.
\nThe jury awarded Ms. Liebeck $200,000 for her own injuries and awarded $2.7 million in punitive damages. Ms. Liebeck\u2019s $200,000 compensatory damages award was reduced by the 20{a0c01d20c42349884e67ff80c137866b0a9fe47aaae8f8a86a605a369ae487c3} fault the jury placed on her. The trial court reduced the $2.7 million punitive damages to $480,000.
\nThus, Ms. Liebeck\u2019s final verdict was significantly less than $1 million.
\nAlso, if you look at the facts here in Minnesota, there is no evidence of \u201csue happy\u201d injured victims and \u201crun-away\u201d jury verdicts. From 2001 through 2010, data supplied by the Minnesota Supreme Court indicates that personal injury cases fell 24{a0c01d20c42349884e67ff80c137866b0a9fe47aaae8f8a86a605a369ae487c3}. I also review verdict data published by the Twin Cities Jury Verdict Reporter, which analyzes every personal injury verdict in Hennepin and Ramsey Counties.
\nI am also frequently met with the argument from the insurance industry that the reason they offering less for neck and back injuries than they did 10 years ago is that juries are awarding less for such injuries. As a result, the insurance industry can not have it both ways and claim that the number of lawsuits is increasing and juries are giving away too much money for such injuries when the facts and their own arguments are the opposite. The State Supreme Court also indicates the only category of lawsuits that has increased is those involving contract disputes, which generally are business suing other business or individuals.
\nWe should certainly openly discuss and debate the merits of our civil justice system; however, it should be based on facts and not a \u201cboogeyman\u201d created by special interest groups. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at 763-783-5121 or via e-mail at jbuchman@bgs.com.
\n~ John T. Buchman<\/a>
\nPerson Injury Attorney<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It seems most everyone has heard about the McDonald\u2019s \u201cHot Coffee\u201d verdict, however, it may well be one of those \u201cfacts\u201d we remember without really knowing how we every learned them. Furthermore, most people repeat those \u201cfacts\u201d without ever learning whether or not they were true. Most people assume that the Plaintiff carelessly spilled hot coffee on her self and ended up with millions of dollars. Many people then argue that this exemplifies the \u201cfact\u201d that there are too many lawsuits and juries give out ridiculous verdicts to the undeserving. However, the facts are decidedly to the contrary. The Plaintiff, Stella Liebeck, was 79 years old when she bought a cup of coffee at McDonalds and got into her son\u2019s car. The car did not have a console area to set her cup while she was riding as a passenger. She placed the cup between her knees while she was pulling off the lid and the cup spilled. Unlike most of the coffee that people make at home or buy from most any other restaurant, McDonald\u2019s coffee was 180\u00b0. Most other coffee is heated to between 135-140\u00b0, a temperature that will not produce third-degree burns. However, McDonald\u2019s, based on a consultant\u2019s advice, brewed their coffee to 180-190\u00b0. I\u2019ve heard different versions as to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe McDonald's Hot Coffee Case: Separating Fact from Fiction - Barna, Guzy & Steffen, LTD.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/11\/the-mcdonalds-hot-coffee-case-separating-fact-from-fiction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The McDonald's Hot Coffee Case: Separating Fact from Fiction - Barna, Guzy & Steffen, LTD.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It seems most everyone has heard about the McDonald\u2019s \u201cHot Coffee\u201d verdict, however, it may well be one of those \u201cfacts\u201d we remember without really knowing how we every learned them. Furthermore, most people repeat those \u201cfacts\u201d without ever learning whether or not they were true. Most people assume that the Plaintiff carelessly spilled hot coffee on her self and ended up with millions of dollars. Many people then argue that this exemplifies the \u201cfact\u201d that there are too many lawsuits and juries give out ridiculous verdicts to the undeserving. However, the facts are decidedly to the contrary. The Plaintiff, Stella Liebeck, was 79 years old when she bought a cup of coffee at McDonalds and got into her son\u2019s car. The car did not have a console area to set her cup while she was riding as a passenger. She placed the cup between her knees while she was pulling off the lid and the cup spilled. Unlike most of the coffee that people make at home or buy from most any other restaurant, McDonald\u2019s coffee was 180\u00b0. Most other coffee is heated to between 135-140\u00b0, a temperature that will not produce third-degree burns. However, McDonald\u2019s, based on a consultant\u2019s advice, brewed their coffee to 180-190\u00b0. I\u2019ve heard different versions as to...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/11\/the-mcdonalds-hot-coffee-case-separating-fact-from-fiction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Barna, Guzy & Steffen, LTD.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-01-11T20:16:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John T. Buchman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John T. Buchman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/11\/the-mcdonalds-hot-coffee-case-separating-fact-from-fiction\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/11\/the-mcdonalds-hot-coffee-case-separating-fact-from-fiction\/\",\"name\":\"The McDonald's Hot Coffee Case: Separating Fact from Fiction - Barna, Guzy & Steffen, LTD.\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-01-11T20:16:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-01-11T20:16:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c3a964aaae37c45d0d8a88a34c33dbc6\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/11\/the-mcdonalds-hot-coffee-case-separating-fact-from-fiction\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/11\/the-mcdonalds-hot-coffee-case-separating-fact-from-fiction\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/11\/the-mcdonalds-hot-coffee-case-separating-fact-from-fiction\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The McDonald's Hot Coffee Case: Separating Fact from Fiction\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Barna, Guzy & Steffen, LTD.\",\"description\":\"Attorneys at Law\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c3a964aaae37c45d0d8a88a34c33dbc6\",\"name\":\"John T. Buchman\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/de03cf4801216780ad01db217f1ab6af\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1cdfb0bb13d623bfcf0ca0b49196aa64?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1cdfb0bb13d623bfcf0ca0b49196aa64?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"John T. Buchman\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/author\/john-t-buchman\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The McDonald's Hot Coffee Case: Separating Fact from Fiction - Barna, Guzy & Steffen, LTD.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/11\/the-mcdonalds-hot-coffee-case-separating-fact-from-fiction\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The McDonald's Hot Coffee Case: Separating Fact from Fiction - Barna, Guzy & Steffen, LTD.","og_description":"It seems most everyone has heard about the McDonald\u2019s \u201cHot Coffee\u201d verdict, however, it may well be one of those \u201cfacts\u201d we remember without really knowing how we every learned them. Furthermore, most people repeat those \u201cfacts\u201d without ever learning whether or not they were true. Most people assume that the Plaintiff carelessly spilled hot coffee on her self and ended up with millions of dollars. Many people then argue that this exemplifies the \u201cfact\u201d that there are too many lawsuits and juries give out ridiculous verdicts to the undeserving. However, the facts are decidedly to the contrary. The Plaintiff, Stella Liebeck, was 79 years old when she bought a cup of coffee at McDonalds and got into her son\u2019s car. The car did not have a console area to set her cup while she was riding as a passenger. She placed the cup between her knees while she was pulling off the lid and the cup spilled. Unlike most of the coffee that people make at home or buy from most any other restaurant, McDonald\u2019s coffee was 180\u00b0. Most other coffee is heated to between 135-140\u00b0, a temperature that will not produce third-degree burns. However, McDonald\u2019s, based on a consultant\u2019s advice, brewed their coffee to 180-190\u00b0. I\u2019ve heard different versions as to...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/11\/the-mcdonalds-hot-coffee-case-separating-fact-from-fiction\/","og_site_name":"Barna, Guzy & Steffen, LTD.","article_published_time":"2012-01-11T20:16:28+00:00","author":"John T. Buchman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"John T. Buchman","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/11\/the-mcdonalds-hot-coffee-case-separating-fact-from-fiction\/","url":"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/11\/the-mcdonalds-hot-coffee-case-separating-fact-from-fiction\/","name":"The McDonald's Hot Coffee Case: Separating Fact from Fiction - Barna, Guzy & Steffen, LTD.","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-01-11T20:16:28+00:00","dateModified":"2012-01-11T20:16:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c3a964aaae37c45d0d8a88a34c33dbc6"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/11\/the-mcdonalds-hot-coffee-case-separating-fact-from-fiction\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/11\/the-mcdonalds-hot-coffee-case-separating-fact-from-fiction\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/11\/the-mcdonalds-hot-coffee-case-separating-fact-from-fiction\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The McDonald's Hot Coffee Case: Separating Fact from Fiction"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/","name":"Barna, Guzy & Steffen, LTD.","description":"Attorneys at Law","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c3a964aaae37c45d0d8a88a34c33dbc6","name":"John T. Buchman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/de03cf4801216780ad01db217f1ab6af","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1cdfb0bb13d623bfcf0ca0b49196aa64?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1cdfb0bb13d623bfcf0ca0b49196aa64?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"John T. Buchman"},"url":"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/author\/john-t-buchman\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2127"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2127\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2127"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}