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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 ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants


1
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.
2
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    how outdated the education system was when it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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3
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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5
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.

Back
6
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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7
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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9
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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10
Defendant
  • McDonalds Corporation
  • McDonalds Restaurant
  • PTS Inc.
  • McDonalds International Inc.

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11
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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12
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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13
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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