Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants

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High Profile Tort Case Liebeck v. McDonald's
Restaurants
The plaintiff filed a complaint against the
defendant alleging negligence. The case went to
trial where a judgment was handed down. This
verdict set off a firestorm of concerns about
frivolous cases. My assessment of this case is
based on the events that have happened in the
years since this case was brought to trial.
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Assessment

• Based on the research of the case, Liebeck v.
  McDonalds Restaurants, it is my belief that the
  verdict was correct. McDonalds exhibited gross
  negligence in maintaining the temperature of
  their coffee at 180? which is considered
  scalding. However, the amount of the award was
  excessively high. The plaintiffs medical and
  law bills should have been covered and then a
  compensatory amount should have been offered, but
  the high award amount encouraged other toxic
  torts and began one of the most litigious decades
  in American history.
• With that being said, this case was a wake up
  call for corporate America. No more could large
  corporations institute policies and procedures
  without considering the ramifications of their
  decisions.
• Additionally, we in the education field, began to
  scrutinize policies and procedures that might
  make us susceptible to legal action, i.e.
  paddling, restraining students in a physical
  manner, isolation or humiliation of students. The
  re-evaluation of these practices brought to light
  how outdated the education system was when it
  came to the rights of students.

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Stella Liebeck

• Stella Liebeck (1913-2004)
• Place of residence Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Date of event - February 27, 1992
• Age at time of event - 79

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4
Frivolous - legal claim resulting in damages that
greatly exceed expectations based on the facts of
the case
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McDonalds Corporation

• McDonalds is a fast food restaurant that was
  incorporated in 1955. McDonalds revolutionized
  American eating habits, as well as the business
  concept of franchising.
• With its 1971 slogan You deserve a break today
  McDonalds became a household name.
• In 1975 McDonalds opened its first drive through
  window with the goal of serving customers in 50
  seconds or less further advancing the popularity
  and speed with which Americans could get a meal
  from McDonalds.
• Building on a generation who had grown up eating
  at McDonalds, the 1980s and 90s saw McDonalds
  expand its menu items to breakfast foods as well
  as salads and other healthy options to lure
  purists of the health craze that was currently
  being experienced.

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Tort - Tort law is the name given to a body of
law that creates, and provides remedies for,
civil wrongs that do not arise out of contractual
duties
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Plaintiff Stella Liebeck

• Stella Liebeck received burns on her body which
  required an eight day hospital stay, and skin
  grafting
• She was the lone plaintiff
• Liebeck sought to settle with McDonald's for
  20,000 to cover her medical costs, which were
  11,000, but the company offered only 800. She
  retained a lawyer, Reed Morgan, who gave the
  fast-food restaurant another opportunity to
  settle by paying 90,000 before the case went to
  court. McDonald's refused Morgan's offer. Now
  angry, Morgan recommended 300,000 to settle, The
  two parties entered into mediation to try to
  avoid a trial, and a mediator suggested 225,000,
  but again McDonald's refused these final
  pre-trial attempts to settle.

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8
Complaint

• Known also as the McDonald's coffee case, this
  1994 product liability lawsuit alleged that
  McDonalds was negligent by selling coffee that
  was too hot.
• Complaint was for gross negligence for selling
  coffee that was unreasonably dangerous and
  defectively manufactured.
• In 1992, 79 year old Stella Liebeck orders coffee
  through a McDonalds drive-through window in
  Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her son-in-law who was
  driving, stopped the car to allow her to place
  cream and sugar into the coffee. Anchoring the
  cup between her legs, Mrs. Liebeck pried off the
  lid of the Styrofoam cup which caused the entire
  cup of hot coffee to spill onto her lap resulting
  in 3rd degree burns to her thighs, groin and
  buttocks.
• She was taken to the hospital where she was
  treated for 3rd degree burns over 6 of her body
  and lesser burns over 16. Two years of
  rehabilitation and skin grafting were required
  for Mrs. Liebeck.

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Gross negligence

• Fault characterized by extreme carelessness
  showing willful or reckless disregard for the
  consequences to the safety or property of
  another. Gross negligence may give rise to
  punitive damages above and beyond general damage
  awards.
• "Legal Dictionary." Dictionary of Legal Terms.
  2006. Law Offices of Scott K. Liner. 23 Mar 2009
  lthttp//skl-law.com/legal_dictionaryGgt.

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Defendant

• McDonalds Corporation
• McDonalds Restaurant
• PTS Inc.
• McDonalds International Inc.

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Judgment

• This case was put before a jury and the jury
  found in favor of the plaintiff and awarded her
  2.7 million for punitive damages, with 200,000
  for compensatory damage. The judge later reduced
  the punitive award to 480,000 bringing the total
  to 680,000. Both parties appealed, and ended up
  settling out of court for an undisclosed amount
  of money.

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Discovery

• In law, discovery is the pre-trial phase in a
  lawsuit in which each party through the law of
  civil procedure can request documents and other
  evidence from other parties or can compel the
  production of evidence by using a subpoena or
  through other discovery devices, such as requests
  for production of documents, and depositions. In
  other words, discovery includes (1)
  interrogatories (2) motions or requests for
  production of documents (3) requests for
  admissions and (4) depositions.
• "Discovery." Wikipedia. 18 MAR 2009. Wikipedia.
  23 Mar 2009 lthttp//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discover
  y_(law)gt.

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Negligence
During the case, Liebeck's attorneys discovered
that McDonald's required franchises to serve
coffee at 180190 F (8288 C). At that
temperature, the coffee would cause a
third-degree burn in two to seven seconds. Stella
Liebeck's attorney argued that coffee should
never be served hotter than 140 F (60 C), and
that a number of other establishments served
coffee at a substantially lower temperature than
McDonald's. Liebeck's lawyers presented the jury
with evidence that 180 F coffee like that
McDonalds served may produce third-degree burns
(where skin grafting is necessary) in about 12 to
15 seconds (as a reference, the boiling point of
water is 212 F or 100 C). Lowering the
temperature to 160 F (71 C) would increase the
time for the coffee to produce such a burn to 20
seconds.
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