Speed bump video (now tort law discussion)

[G.Irish]

Just a little extra info on the coffee lawsuit, as we were discussing this in Business law class JUST a couple of days ago...The lady had 3rd degree burns between her legs, and at the temperature that McDonalds served their coffee back then, it was capable of burning skin to the 3rd degree in 3.5 seconds. Oh yeah, I believe the lady received $5 million when all was said and done.

What temperature was that at?

I'm not condoning lethally hot fast food (lest I have my mouth horribly burned by a Chipotle burrito) but as far as I know coffee is very hot when brewed, possibly up to boiling point. But, by the time it is poured at the very least it wouldn't be boiling anymore.

When you brew tea, you boil the water first no? So that water temperature could be near boiling as it was poured. If someone spilled that on themselves could they sue because the water was so hot?

Maybe McDonald's should have been forced to regulate the temperature but $5 million is a lot of freaking money. Had that been a smaller chain it could have put them and all of their employees out of business.

My problem with a lot of this litigation is that it punishes mistakes and oversights with wild settlements. This causes people and companies to be so paranoid that they're effectively held hostage to the litigation state. Of course there has to be corporate accoutability but at the same time nobody can think of every possible permutation of how things can go wrong and cause someone to get hurt. Shit happens.