Stella Liebeck v. McDonald’s Restaurants P.T.S., Inc. and McDonald’s International Inc.

FACTS:
A 79-year-old woman, named Stella Liebeck was severely burned by McDonald’s coffee that she accidentally
spilled in her lap in 1992, it was unfairly held up as an example of frivolous lawsuits in the public. The real
story involves the coffee that burned Stella Liebeck was grievously hot that can cause third-degree burns, even
through clothes, in just three seconds. Liebeck suffered over 16 percent of third-degree burns all throughout
her body, mainly in her inner thighs and genitals that caused her to be hospitalized for eight days, and be
required to undergo skin grafts and other treatment that results to a two years recovery for her.
All McDonald's restaurants served coffee between 180 and 190 degrees that was explicitly to be 30 to 40
degrees hotter than any other coffee served by other companies. The jury have also assimilated that there
were 700 other people, including children that had been burned before, and yet the company did not create
revisions to its policy in sustaining the coffee temperature between 180 and 190 degrees. The company have
realized that the number of burns caused by coffee was not as significant as billions of cups that they served
annually.
ISSUE:
Is Stella Liebeck liable in the accident or it is McDonald’s corporate behavior that put consumers in an
unreasonable risk.
RULLING:
The case went in trial, jurors saw graphic photos of Liebeck’s burns which leads Liebeck to offered a $20,000 to
McDonald’s to settle the case for but the company declined, instead McDonald’s offered Liebeck only $800
which cannot even cover her medical expenses.
From Kenneth Wagner, an Albuquerque lawyer who represented Liebeck, the lawsuit’s goal was to try to right
a wrong. Even before the lawsuit was filed, people all knew that the temperature of the water was 190
degrees or so, and the franchise documents required that of the franchisee. He also added that most home
coffee makers produce coffee that is between 135 and 150 degrees. On the latter, jurors awarded Liebeck
$200,000 as compensatory damages for her suffering, and medical costs, but those damages were reduced to
$160,000 due to identified 20 percent responsibility in the incident since from the reality, her grandson was
driving, and Liebeck is in the passenger seat. They bought the coffee in the drive-through window, while the
car was parked, Liebeck put the coffee cup between her knees and removed the lid to add cream and sugar,
and she spilled it accidentally. The court have awarded McDonald’s a $2.7 million for the punitive damages
that amounted them for about two days of revenue for their coffee sales. Eventually the trial judge reduced
the punitive damages to $480,000, and considered McDonald’s behavior to be willful and reckless. According
to news accounts, both parties have settled lately for a confidential amount that ranges for almost less than a
$500,000.