A Hot Cup of Coffee

In the early 1990s (Gosh, has it been that long?), there was a news story that grabbed attention worldwide, and even coined a new phrase…”our litigious society.”

Let’s talk about the Million-Dollar-McDonalds-Coffee-Lady and her very hot cup of coffee.

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I think I first heard the story on the radio, but it was in all the media, ALL of it: newspaper, radio, television, and in coffee shops, cafes, and even over back fences.  Everyone was talking about the crazy (at best) woman who drove through McDonalds one morning and picked up a cup of hot coffee thinking it wouldn’t be hot.

According to many of the news reports, she was driving carelessly and spilled her coffee in her lap, giving herself a little burn.  Besides being crazy, the lady must have been very greedy, because she decided that she could sue good old loveable Ronald McDonald for millions of dollars and live in a mansion like a fat-cat for the rest of her life. 

Maybe then she could hire someone just to make her coffee exactly the way she liked it – not too hot or too cold…just right.

Evidently, a jury of her peers saw a chance to make somebody like them rich.  Heck, maybe they thought somebody else would turn around and vote THEM a big verdict, and make ALL of THEM rich too!

Almost overnight everyone, everywhere, was talking about greedy people who were suing for millions of dollars for every silly little reason and causing businesses to raise their prices just to stay in business while paying those huge, jury verdicts.

In retrospect, I have to wonder who was spreading the information to the media outlets.

The important thing for you to know at this point is that almost none of it was true.

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Stella Liebeck was a 79 year-old widowed former department store clerk who had recently retired and was living in New Mexico.  One February morning in 1992 she got in the car with her grandson, Christopher Tiano.  Just to be clear, HE was driving; SHE was a passenger.  He drove into the drive through of a McDonalds in Albuquerque to pick up some breakfast.

The young man stopped the car so that his grandmother could add cream and sugar to her morning Cuppa Joe. 

There were no cup holders or level places in the vehicle (a Ford Probe), so Stella put the Styrofoam cup between her legs.  “I wanted to take the top off the coffee to put cream and sugar in,” said Liebeck to a local news reporter.  “So I put the cup between my knees…”

As she removed the top, the coffee spilled.  The scalding liquid soaked immediately into her sweatpants and pooled in the seat, containing the heat in poor Ms. Liebeck’s most sensitive region.

Grandson Christopher said, “And after that, she started screaming.”  The young man sought immediate medical help for his suffering grandmother.

So far it’s a little different than what we were led to believe by so many of the news reports, but wait until you hear the rest.

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At the hospital, they found that Mrs. Liebeck was suffering from second and third degree burns over 16 percent of her body. 

Yes THAT part of her body. 

I think my mathematician sons will forgive me for a very slight exaggeration when I point out that those burns covered nearly 1/5th of her body’s surface.  Yes, 1/5, and a very sensitive 1/5 at that.

Due to the pain and extensive damage, Stella went into shock and had be hospitalized for a week, during which she had to undergo skin grafts and other procedures, such as debridement, where dead tissue is peeled off.

After being released from the hospital, Ms. Liebeck was homebound for more weeks while she recovered enough to get out again.

Stella’s medical bills rose, quickly topping $10,000 (nearly $20,000 today).  She was concerned about paying for the rising medical costs, so decided to ask McDonald’s for help. 

And that’s when she asked McDonalds to kick in…are you ready for this…  She asked them to reimburse the $10,000.

Oh, and she asked them to check the temperature of the coffee that one McDonalds franchise was selling because she thought their machine might be broken and serving the coffee abnormally hot.

That’s a far cry from asking for millions, isn’t it?  So what was McDonalds’ reply?

They offered to chip in $800.

THAT’s when Stella Liebeck hired a lawyer.

But wait, let’s back up a little bit.

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Ms. Liebeck said she thought they might be serving their coffee a little too hot…but how hot were they actually serving it?

At that time, according to one report, “McDonalds required its franchises to brew its coffee to 195 to 205 degrees and sell it at 180 to 190 degrees, far hotter than the coffee made by most home coffee-brewing machines.” 

Brew coffee to 205 degrees!  Need I remind you that water BOILS at 212 degrees!   Most home coffee makers produce coffee as much as 20-40 degrees less than McDonalds REQUIRED.

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For the record, most other coffee sellers in the area were serving their coffee at about 30-40 degrees less than McDonalds.

Further, the Shriner’s Burn Institute in Cincinnati issued warnings that coffee served about 130 degrees is “dangerously hot.”

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Well, you’ve got to give McDonalds a break today (sorry), that had to be the first report of injury they had received, right?

In the ten years from 1982 until 1992 the company had received over 700 complaints of burns due to hot coffee, including accidental spills on infants and children.

But, surely, with over 700 complaints in ten years, the company would have considered the pain and injury to their customers, right? The defense countered that the 700-plus complaints in ten years was statistically insignificant compared to the billions of cups of coffee their company served every year.

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At the same time, someone started a media campaign claiming that tort reform was drastically needed in the United States, because people were suing corporations for millions of dollars for little, tiny injuries like the lady who spilled her coffee.  It was forcing companies to raise the prices they paid to sensible customers just so they could afford to stay in business.

The misinformation campaign spread like spilled coffee.  Ms. Liebeck didn’t have a chance to counter the lies.

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Well, the jury may have gotten an idea from the company’s callous opinion of their injured customers and the sheer number of cups of coffee they sold every year.  They awarded Stella $200,000 for her serious, third-degree burns, and a further $2.7 million in punitive damages. 

At that time, $2.7 million was equivalent to a mere two-days of McDonalds’ coffee sales. 

Since Stella had spilled the coffee on herself, the judge reduced the injury award to $160,000, and the punitive damages to well under $1 million. The actual amount Liebeck received was confidential, but has been reported to be well under $1 million.

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It’s a little hard to believe, isn’t it?  Well, it really did happen and, to the best of my research, just that way.

Oh, and that’s why your fast-food coffee cups have that, “Warning! Coffee is hot!” printed on them.

It kind of makes more sense now, doesn’t it?

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BE WARNED: BOTH OF THE FOLLOWING VIDEOS CONTAIN GRAPHIC PHOTOS OF MS. LIEBECK’S INJURIES. IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE TO SUCH IMAGES, PLEASE DO NOT VIEW THESE VIDEOS.