Woman Burned by McDonald's Hot Coffee, Then the News Media | Retro Report | The New York Times
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ก.ย. 2024
- In 1992, Stella Liebeck spilled scalding McDonald's coffee in her lap and later sued the company, attracting a flood of negative attention. It turns out there was more to the story.
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The case is now famous but when Stella Liebeck burnt McDonald's coffee she would never know that it would still be talked about decades later.
Read the story here: nyti.ms/1fQhhoR
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Woman Burned by McDonald's Hot Coffee, Then the News Media | Retro Report | The New York Times
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I was a senior in high school when this case was in the news, and I remember arguing with my older brother who said this was a ridiculous case. I kept saying that the report didn’t say the woman asked for millions, it said that a jury awarded millions. What did the jurors hear in the court room that led to that decision? We both found an explanation of the case and then the award made sense. My brother and I both learned valuable lessons at an early age: reading about things in depth leads to much greater understanding than listening to the news, and when the whole world gets it wrong, the people who get it right are considered stupid. This case was a great lesson for me.
Maargen Bx that's wonderfully said! 💛💯
@Bruce Wayne She's an elderly woman and she spilled coffee on herself by accident. Of course it' common sense to not spill your drink, but everyone has done it before. There wouldn't have been a problem if McDonalds just paid for her medical bill. Coffee doesn't have to be prepared at 180 to 200 degrees, like the video said most home coffee machines prepare coffee at around 150 to 160 degrees.
@Bruce Wayne Ok, I understand that coffee has to be made at that temperature for optimal taste, but that doesn't mean it should be served at that temperature. McDonalds purposely kept their coffee at that temperature until serving it because they want the heat to mask the bad flavor of their low quality coffee, but skin isn't as heat resistant as your mouth. Did you see the pictures of her burns?
the lesson should be not to listen to the US media...
but it is a stupid case that's like suing someone for accidentally spelling coffee on your lap
She just wanted to pay her medical bills. She didn’t go around demanding for 2.9 million dollars
Lold
2.7 million dollars
How dare McDonald’s make her something she asked and paid more
So when she received 500k, she returned the 490k that exceeded her medical bills?
Deccan Moore
That's wrong. She herself said she wanted her medical Bill's paid and some money for herself. Not 2.9 million but she did ask for money for herself. If she was the passenger and her daughter was the driver even though they were stopped in a parking lot, who allows a 79 year old to put hot coffee between her knees and open it. Ate you kidding me. I would never allow my mother or any 79 year old do that.
To anybody who doesn't know a 3rd degree burn is way worse then you think. A 3rd degr burn is when the skin is gone and muscle tissue is damaged. Because she was in the chair the coffee didn't drain and she was litter getting burned alive by her coffee. Imagine if someone took a big sip if it was that hot. Your tounge would never be the same
That's be incredibly dumb... wait for it to cool and check first? Like any hot drink?
@@kittenmimi5326 It shouldn't be *that* hot in the first place.
@@kittenmimi5326 There’s already a rule on how hot the beverages should be.
@@EMoney0527 unfortunately mcdonalds keeps the coffeepot on a constant hot pot so its the same scalding temperature all day, and when we dont have any and theres an order we immediately brew more and its even hotter, some people dont even warn the customers either.
@jminiex what if someone wasn’t going to their office and waiting for it to cool down....Not everybody will have the patience nor will they want to risk 3rd degree burns so their coffee is a bit warmer when they reach their destination. The woman was right. Periodt.
That sucks especially how she basically died still being the butt of jokes and people still misinformed.
She burned her butt?😮
Nah fam she was laughing to the bank
She held a hot drink between her legs and then bitched when she spilled it. She deserved to be made fun of, and she shouldn't have gotten any money
@NY Gamer, she had to get skin graphs after she spilt it. 4th degree burns. And McDonalds lowers the temp after this so it worked
@@TJSpyke She was in a parked car when it split, she admitted it was her fault but she got 3rd degree burns on her legs and genitals. McDonald's wouldn't pay the full medical bill which was $20,000 and only wanted to give $800. McDonald's knew their coffee was hazardous but they did nothing so she had to sue.
You can't serve customers something that will endanger them
Word'' hot coffee'' is wrong it should be '' scalding coffee''.How do you drink a coffee which gives 3rs degree burn.
I read one article that McDonald's argued that "people purchase our coffee and then travel to work, and by the time they get to work, it's cooled down to drinkable temperature." Yeah, okay McDonald's. Like that's an excuse to serve acidic lava.
And who would hold a cup of liquid between their legs while driving instead of having cup holder in the car?
@@bobajaj4224 She needed to lift open the lid off of the coffee cup and there were no cup holders whatsoever in the car to keep it stable. But, you shouldn't blame them for the fact that they own a car with no cup holders.
@@mhail7874 so we blame the store for serving hot coffee????
@@bobajaj4224 She wasn't driving. Atleast pretend you watched the video.
I'm sure McDonald's wishes they paid that 10,000 medical bill.
That's a drop in the bucket for them
@Digby Dooright It's all in how you present it. I think this report left out any perspective on how many 700 cases in 10 years (not a lot compared to the huge amount of sales) and the reasons why McDonald's didn't turn their temperature down. I think these questions are important and the NYT failed to address them. Nor did they paint a good picture of why McDonald's was 80% at fault. It's a sob story.
They couldn't care less. Three million dollars was coffee sales from just two days (as the video says), and there wasn't really any bad press. Corporations don't "wish" for anything other than growth, profit, survival.
nah they probably made more money from all the free advertising
They dont care at all
I thought the burns were just like, 1st degree burns, and some red skin. I never expected the burns to be so severe.
it wouldn't have been on a 20 year old
In a third degree burn you can see the bone inside the flesh
Her daughter said 16% of her body were burned, 6% of that third degree. Now get this: that's not even 1% of her body total and I bet you didn't know that only third degree burns require medical attention.
Also, she wasn't burned, she was scalded. I wonder if people really don't know the difference.
@@michaelxz1305 it would have. They've had multiple claims. They knew their coffee was hot enough to cause 3rd degree burns. Way hotter than other restaurants actually.
@@michaelxz1305 first, that's false: www.accuratebuilding.com/services/legal/charts/hot_water_burn_scalding_graph.html . Second, in your logic, 80+ years old people can't go to mcdonal without fear of 3th degree burns? Is that it?
Their coffee is actually too hot. I remember actually having to wait for 5 minutes the first time I ordered the coffee for it to cool down a bit. And also why do people sympathize with a billion dollar company instead of an old frail woman.
because the billion dollar company is right
@@kingkongcreeper The lawsuit wasn’t that McDonalds should pay because she spilled coffee on herself. The lawsuit was that the coffee was dangerously hot and McDonald’s knew about it, but did not respond to it responsibly or reasonably. It’s like you didn’t watch the video.
@@kingkongcreeper Only if you ignore the facts in the case, perhaps.
@@kingkongcreeper Mcdonalds still had to pay :)
Because they omitted the fact that she was elderly. I remember this case and just heard it as "A lady sued because her coffee was too hot." Which sounds ridiculous, like complaining about 'cold ice cream' or 'sweet candy'. They made it sound like she burnt her tongue and just sued to make an easy profit.
She should have sued mainstream media and Jay Leno for defamation. That would have been the greatest case of the 20th century.
I am not certain, but maybe Jay Leno did not know how hot the coffee was. I 100% agree with suing the media.
Yep!
Oh yeah. Plus she would of been awarded more than $2.9 million.
John Nelson he didn't defame her loser
Lets just sue everyone
How to become a enemy of America:
1. Go against McDonalds.
Not because people love McDonald’s but because their legal team pay the media to lie
3. Or go against your own nation choice for President! Or support it.... I'm speechless
Well it screws up my digestive system, but I'm not crying over it.
an
@Ooohbopbopboppadoohwah I don’t hate it but Chick-fil-A is way better
I'm convinced half the people in this comment section clicked on the video, never watched it and just went straight to posting a comment.
+Kyle Raymer Welcome to the Internet :D
+allyourcode I find that most of the Time. sometimes even not reading the headlines which tells exactly what they are complaining about
Kyle Raymer first off I watched the video and secondly it was coffee what did you expect a warm drink no! It's coffee it's hot and you should expect it to be hot this was all on her but she just couldn't accept the truth
+The prototype I wouldn't expect a drink to put me in the hospital for a week.. lol That's crazy! I also wouldn't expect spilling any drink would cause me to need skin graphing. If they would have just paid her hospital bill it wouldn't have gone to court!
Kyle Raymer yep!!! 😡
She literally asked for the medical bill to be payed first, sad how she never wanted to sue but it was no other choice. McDonald’s could of ignored it all
Angell I agree with you… However, McDonald’s might have been concerned that paying for her bill immediately was an admission of guilt. In hindsight, they got sued anyway....
Why should McDonald's pay her medical bills when it was her own fault? The jury got it wrong, they should have dismissed her lawsuit and ordered her to pay the legal fees McDonald's incurred in this frivolous lawsuit.
COULD HAVE*
NY Gamer i agree
could *have*
Incredible how this story made its way around the world. I'm German, and we've made fun of that American who sued about hot coffee, and how Americans are so quick to sue about seemingly everything. It's good that you're correcting the record. A lot of irresponsible people in the media caused this.
Synerrox
The media does this all the time with different stories. It is important to get the facts straight as what they air maybe biased or wants something interesting. It’s unfortunate that the facts are put off to the side so media can have their way and use it for entertainment.
I'm Korean, and even I've heard about that story half the globe away. How the media manipulates broadcasts are just astonishing.
What was corrected?
Her injury is worse. She had a high hospital bill.
But nothing changed about the idiocy.
She didnt know how to handle coffee and sued. Not a single german in history would have ever done so. No court would have made MD pay. (especially since there wouldnt have been a hospital bill to begin with)
News is entertainment.
Telling the story the exact way it happened will not attract viewers.
Humans crave drama
@@squattingheads when its 200 degrees most people would drop it n i dont care if ur German American or whatever when you spill coffee and it peels the skin off ur legs and crotch in seconds that Is extremely HOT.
I hate to admit that I thought sueing for hot coffee was stupid but then I heard bout the injuries so I apologize to this woman for rushing to judgment.
The reason this kind old lady was slandered by the media was because McDonald's had really good lawyers that managed to convince the big companies that Stella did it deliberately.
she was stupid enough to be so careless so she blamed the people who make the coffee. why not sue the car company for not having cup holders
Elsie: Ummm, no. My friend's father was on the McDonald's legal team for this case. The last thing in the world they wanted is everyone in the country thinking they could get millions that easy.
It was kind of a case of two hard headed people clashing. McDonald's didn't want to lower the temp because coffee was a huge draw for them in the morning. People swing in for coffee and order other breakfast items too. The industry actually does studies, like they mentioned here. What temp makes the best flavor? How hot does it need to start out to remain hot for 15 mins after it has been poured into a cup? That was a big issue for McDonald's. They wanted people to be able to buy a cup and it still be hot after 10 or 15 mins (I don't know how long)
Their thinking was, buy a cup, drive to work, coffee is still hot several mins later. That was an industry standard and temps in the pot were even higher for places that served coffee in ceramic mugs. The cold ceramic mug reduced the temp so they had to start even hotter.
That was the biggest issue. Stella really didn't want money. She was on a program with UNM Hospital where she didn't even have to pay her medical bills. Her out of pocket max was $50 a day. She just didn't want the hospital program to have to pay when it was McDonald's fault.
That's where my friend's father was involved. He tried to mediate. McDonald's offered her $333,333.33 1/3 of a million, plus the medical bills. She refused that offer because it didn't include reducing the temp.
The mediation was tried and failed before the case got any national attention. Had it come out that she refused any deal that didn't include reducing the temp the media couldn't have spun it the way they did. The media spun it to sound shocking and amazing at the cost of Stella's reputation.
Stella only started wanting more money because McDonald's refused to lower the temp. She then wanted to punish them. It became personnel. She didn't want to give an inch and McDonald's didn't want to give an inch.
I don't know the final settlement, it's officially sealed, but my friend's dad said "after all this, we ended up at the first offer" I assume that means $333,333.33 plus medical bills.
I have no idea if this is true or not but local legal lore says they argued for weeks over how they were going to round the final cent. If they rounded up to $333,333.34 then Stella gets a small victory. If they rounded down to $.32, then McDonald's gets a small symbolic victory. Like I said, I have no idea if that's true or not but, the simple fact that story was spread around shows how petty things got towards the end.
Shortly after this case settled, McDonald's switched from paper cups to Styrofoam cups and reduced the temp of their coffee by the 10 degrees Stella wanted. They also redesigned the lid. They refused to admit Stella's suit had anything to do with that. They said the Styrofoam insulates better so the coffee can start out 10 degrees cooler.
Don't get me wrong, I am not supporting McDonald's in this. This got ugly because they thought they could just buy her off but she didn't want money. She wanted to prevent others from getting burned. She was hard headed and stood on her morals. McDonald's refused to budge, it became a big, complex case and the media turned it into something it wasn't. The legal team had nothing to do with that. When that narrative started, they were actually afraid they were going to get swamped with lawsuits from people thinking it would be an easy way to get a million dollar settlement.
McDonald's lawyer must have been a very good one but she should get herself a fitting bra. Just saying.
@@shananagans5 - I agree with you overall, but I quibble over the temperature change
"Shortly after this [Liebeck] case settled McDonald's.......reduced the temp of their coffee by the 10 degrees Stella wanted......"
Not true actually.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald%27s_Restaurants
"Since Liebeck, McDonald's has not reduced the service temperature of its coffee. McDonald's policy today is to serve coffee at 176-194 °F (80-90 °C), relying on more sternly worded warnings on cups made of rigid foam to avoid future liability, though it continues to face lawsuits over hot coffee. The Specialty Coffee Association of America supports improved packaging methods rather than lowering the temperature at which coffee is served. The association has successfully aided the defense of subsequent coffee burn cases. Similarly, as of 2004, Starbucks sells coffee at 175-185 °F (79-85 °C), and the executive director of the Specialty Coffee Association of America reported that the standard serving temperature is 160-185 °F (71-85 °C)."
If Stella Liebeck wanted to prevent others from getting burned by coffee, she should be urging people not to put a hot cup of coffee between one's legs, in a car, a perfect way to spill the coffee AND keep it in contact with skin, to maximize contact time. In a car seat, the groin area where she was burned, was where the coffee would pool, and it is difficule to get out of a car seat quickly enough. Plus the sweat pants. If that had happened at a kitchen table, she would have stoop up instantly (as would you or I), the coffee would continue to run down under gravity, and the burn effect would have been more dissipated.
Maybe she should have sued the automobile manufacturer for not putting better cup holders in the car?
No, because McDonalds and other large companies control the media.
I always thought this was ridiculous but now I feel bad for the lady. She had to live the rest of her life dealing with hate from ignorant people. Sad world
Not like she had much longer to live anyways...
You REALLY suck.
+talitakoomi why?
Coffee is hot, common sense you're going to get burned if you spill it on yourself
xD common sense it's obvious if i have coffee i'm gonna spill it.
This woman actually saved us from getting burns caused by McD's coffee! We should all thanks her!
True, up until I saw this I thought it was a great idea to hold hot coffee, in a flimsy cup, with my knees
@@LetsGoFlyers2011 dang, imagine getting 3rd degree burns like her. I can't 😭
@@SyazwaniShukri It's Just Awful.
@@agestatsega ikr 😔
Not until recently. For years she was the punchline of jokes, like they said McDonalds got tons of coffee sales _because_ of how they made her into a joke by twisting the story.
Funny how the media skews stories so much that the victim starts getting abuse...
+Hannah Shark If you spill hot liquid on yourself you're now a "victim".
Only in America!
+Reginald Greene the coffee was 190F which is way too hot, and she only asked Mcdonalds pay for her treatment for third degree burns (and the burns were very gruesome).
+Hannah Shark
"The media," you say? Like the New York Times, producers of this very video, that media?
Gabriel Chagas She was the one who spilled it on herself though, so your analogy is flawed in that regard.
Gabriel Chagas Look, when I buy a cup of thee or coffe....I know it is freaking hot. So I try my best not to drop it. If I do, I have to blame my self, because I droped it and not MC Donald's. She did not do it for the money, why toke the money if you did not WANT TO DO IT FOR THE MONEY?
Wow… I grew up always thinking it was a scam.. but hearing and seeing the burns, I'm glad someone hit the BULLY!
Totally, I had the same experience. Its crazy to think that your first opinion may be so misguided by bias
I admit that I felt the same way. The media really made her out to be an opportunist. They did not report all the facts.
They're not a bully, they didn't poor hot coffee on her, she doesn't deserve that much money
Turns out, when the victim hit the bully, a bigger bully named "most of society" stepped in to get the bully's back and smack the victim down again.
NekoMouser, it's the same in schools. Bullying is ignored by teachers and staff and when the poor kid lashes out he gets suspended or thrown out for fighting.
The problem is that people seem to think that they are authorized to pass judgement the second they hear something.
omg humans acting like humans!!! what degenerates. everyone should be like you and go thru live never ever doing that
@Amelia Schwarz lol yeah mcdonalds put all its time and effort not in running its business but by smearing an elderly customer
@@gotacallfromvishal Yes, that's why there are 700+ other cases like this. Only this one got fame though.
Very true.
It's called the human condition.
Fun fact (maybe not a fact, but allegedly): McDonald's spent millions more to make her look like a villian, than they actually paid her. And apparently, most people bought it for almost a decade
I didn't need McDonalds to tell me this woman was accident prone and money hungry. Her burns / lawsuit was proof enough.
@@ganthore Yeah because making coffee that can give you 3rd degree burns is fine to you then?
@@trangvophuong6919 a simple google search will show you coffee at the temp it is normally served at has always been capable of giving 3rd degree burns....
@@ganthore Just because it can always give 3rd degree burns doesn’t mean it SHOULD give 3rd degree burns
@@trashyfangirl2394 ................ Yes.... Yes it should..... hot water can / will always cause 3rd degree burns..... you understand what.... coffee is.... right?
Don't buy coffee......
So their coffee machine work but their ice cream machine don’t...?
Starry Night same, that happened the other day to me, they “wont working”
So that's a company wide thing , no ice cream no shakes .
dead meme
They mostly say that because it's a b**** to take that thing apart to clean it
Dashaun Smith lol no. It’s because for some reason the ice cream turns watery sometimes so they can’t sell it. Trust me employees love making the ice cream.
Her burns were so severe imagine trying to drink that coffee?! That's horrible
it's bad to eat or drink anything hot or cold. It has to be at body temperature. Ask the Japanese.
I drink tea all the time shortly after it’s brewed to that temperature. It’s not that hard and doesn’t burn you if you just go slowly and wait a minute or two
@@dncviorel the Japanese literally have hot and cold drinks vending machines and are known for drinking hot green tea. Idk why you’d say to ask them
Yeah, ever heard of hot water? That’s what’s used in coffee
It was 30 degrees hotter than what most coffee should be
I work at Bk and our coffee is heated at 200 degrees. I’ve burnt myself through a cup plenty of times. I’m not surprised this happened
Guess they are waiting until someone gets hurt and sues them as well? Seems like the lesson would be learned by all restaurants.
Why so hot? It's not like people are going to drink it at that temp.
Kay you looking hotter than that boiling coffee
Burger King just want any kind of publicity they're just hoping somebody get burned. " somebody pay attention to us we're just as good as McDonald's" lol
Kaylee& Leo no one cares
The images of her burns. God. If people who scorned her knew the severity of her burns. It made me physically scrunch up my face looking at that. I honestly wouldn't wish that on anyone especially around such a sensitive area. And this women, even though she went through so much pain, just wanted to be reimbursed *only* for her medical bills, and she asked nicely not once but twice. My god this leaves a permanent black mark on McDonald's.
Those images made me LOL and the money hungry lawyer who took her case knew that those images would be the key to victory
Yep, burns bad enough that it actually caused her labia to fuse together (protein denatures and effectively melts at high temperatures). She almost died and was disabled for 2 years after the incident. Terrible that her story got manipulated to make her look like the bad guy
@@brotendo the fact that you're going out of your way to seem amused is kinda sad. Get a life.
@@brotendo terrible troll , spend some money and get someone else to do it for you , we need entertainers not chinese rip offs
Love you
190 degrees Fahrenheit is almost boiling, that's insane . And 3rd degree burns are the kind *fire* makes
ikr i got a second degree burn on my leg from my dirtbikes exaust, soo that shows how insanely hot the coffee is.
She could have had an employee just light a fire in her lap for a few seconds for the same burns. That’s crazy.
Yeah that's ridiculous
190 dagrees fahrenheit is the temperature coffee is brewed at. Wether you like coffee or not it was still a perfectly normal cup of coffee. Claiming that normal coffee is to hot because you can spill it, is like claiming a knife is to sharp because you might cut your self
Alexander That knife comparison is so stupid; you KNOW that a knife is going to be extremely sharp thats the expectation but hot coffee is NOT expected to cause you 3rd degree burns. The coffee was too hot, end of story. 🙄😒
We have to take note that older people have thinner skin and it doesnt heal as fast as the younger people. İm sorry for her.
I'm 19 and my skin burns like that too, but anyway I got what you said.
And that's why the burns looked like 3rd degree.
İ
@@gacomics5951 They WERE third degree burns, jesus christ...
Who would feel sorry for a money grubing witch you are messed up.
All this woman wanted was for McDonalds to turn down the temperature so it’s not dangerous and for them to pay her medical bills
LMSPetRescue yeah bc some people can’t think
If that's all she wanted why did she take 2 million out of McDonald lol. She could have taken 500k with was all her medical bills and it was enough for her to get better but she was greedy enough to get 2 mil
Yes McDonalds had a choice...they decided to choose money but in the end they paid a lot more than her bills.
@@hades-sw6xx you obviously did not watch the whole video or did not understand it she did not ask for 2.7 million that is what the jury awarded her the judge broke it down to the smaller amount she never asked for the millions of dollars!! The judge awarded her five or six hundred thousand out of that she would have to pay 30% to her lawyer at least
@@jakerose8320 why would anyone take the lid off of an unstable cup conTAINING HOT LIQUID. Thats asking for trouble. luckily mcdonalds can afford it lol
I feel for this woman. She died thinking the world hated her :(
the awful part is that the world did
We do
And the worst part is that she was right
07:54 - The old lady, God rest her soul, was wiser than you think....
.... A person who goes out of their way to help others is simply impervious to such 'negative gossip'!
@@rodneyberrien9759 uhh...what do you mean "we"?
The woman ordered coffee that should NOT have burned her so severely. The last time I checked, when buying coffee no one has asked me if I'd like it to be hot,real hot or near boiling point. Good for this woman! She had every right to sue.
180-190 degrees is industry standard, even at Starbucks. Use a counter to take the lid off and put your cream in, NOT YOUR KNEES!
industry standard doesn't help stupid people, they cant change the way they distribute coffee because one person put it between her knees and she sucked at balancing it
To add to that, her nephew's car didn't have any cup holders.
Industry standard NEVER CHANGED! If the car didn't have cup holders GO IN!!! She didn't sue the car manufacturer or the sweat pant company!
john ford Who is It you are talking too?
I feel bad judging her, because I remember in college we learned about this case and were all giggles but seeing her 3rd degree burn now! It changed my mind
It's her own fault. If someone is driving with a loaded gun between their legs and shoots themselves, would you feel sorry for them? Maybe feel sorry for their stupidity.
Iliana he’s being going at it for a while just let him be..the coronavirus will get him bud
NY Gamer nice insults my dude but how is this gonna hurt me? Also if you wanna change minds with ur “big brain” maybe try not being a dickhead for others? Could maybe help with ur crusade for truth and law. Anyways just a thought yk
@@itsnoturboideku2391 I pointed out the law and basic facts, but too many people are idiots who think that everyone else is responsible for their actions. Probably Bernie Bros, people who don't think they should be responsible for their own actions
NY Gamer then where is the law and basic facts? Any articles, sources, vids?
I’m sorry for ever laughing at any joke. I never knew it was so awful. How horrible for a victim to go through that and then be constantly shamed and attacked because we did not know better. Thanks to a brave woman who did not let a major corporation intimidate her into backing down. Thanks to her, we are safer.
Can't beleive no one showed any empathy towards this ELDER lady 😔
No difference whether she was "eLdEr" or not, she was still stupid to not put the cup of coffee on the flat dash of her car if she didn't have any cupholders......
@@retrogamer2503 the coffee wasn't supposed to be scalding hot, you imbecile. Hot, would've just stung her but scalding to the point where she has severe burn marks from that coffee is ridiculous.
@@anntonettet6833 if i choked on my phone because i thought it was food u think its right for me to sue apple because their phone is 0.00001 inches bigger than it should be?
@@williamlin2076 well if you thought phone was food then you would need to get internal help. The fact you're comparing a choice you would make (a silly one at that) to a MISTAKE that obviously falls on McDonald's is stupid. A multi-billion dollar corporation won't lose nothing but a cent but that old lady has lost part of her skin/body.
@@williamlin2076 apple phones are not edible, if something that is edible can cause 3rd degree burns it should be banned, she almost died because the coffee fell on her private parts and she went into shock
i didn't realize the burns were that bad.... I'm sorry if I ever made fun of you, Ms. Liebeck.
MyMagicalLittleUniverse you should send a letter to her family.
MyMagicalLittleUniverse she died one year after the lawsuit. So, saying sorry now will only benefit the family
how does the family benefit from that apology? would the apology be spendable like money or at least edible?
@@ninja.saywhat these comments aren't serious... relax
MyMagicalLittleUniverse - A lot of people were not fully informed about this case at the time. We didn’t have instant access to videos like this explaining life to us. I was probably one of those people.
Information was not as concentrated and accessible as it is now. The beauty of life is that we can learn and change our viewpoints.
Also the Jury did take a large %age off the base award because they did hold her somewhat accountable for causing the spill. I think the number was that Mrs. Leibeck was 25% responsible for the spill... So they took that off the basic award. The punitive damages were calculated differently and those damages were also reduced from the approximately 2.7 Million Dollar range down to somewhere below $600,000. Still many think she got close to 3 Million which is not the case.
So we just gonna ignore how the coffee was hot enough to destroy 16 percent of someones body? Like why not just really warm coffee? It's a common fact that hot drink are bad for humans.
Coffee is SUPPOSED to be hot. A drink only has to be about 113 degrees to burn you, the standard temperature for coffee is 195-205 degrees
Restaurant coffee makers are generally around 215 degrees Fahrenheit. And 16% of her body sounds a lot worse than two palm sized burns. It’s a perception thing.
NY Gamer
Man you really have a vendetta against this women. Get a life.
tjlnintendo it’s true kid...
nepaleo
But the video says otherwise. Its 30 degrees too high.
Wow, I feel so bad. Everyone in my community distorted the story so much. I was led to believe it was a middle aged woman, not an 80 year old.. we were told that she threw a fit, that she was the one driving, they never mentioned how bad the burns were, rumors that she did it on purpose, and that she actually got that full million whatever settlement, not the actual payout. She was held up as an example of selfish suing, similar to the guy who went around silicon valley suing businesses and bankrupting them for not accommodating his wheelchair and was then found to be faking. I am so sorry to that woman and her family, and what they went through. All I would have needed to see was the images of the burn damage and the fact that McD's refused to pay her medical bills, which were substantially less..
I always remember everyone saying that it was her "legs" were burnt.. but it was much worse than that.
I love how everyone’s calling her a money grabber and saying she shouldn’t have gotten millions for that but everybody forgets that she didn’t even want to sue them 😭 poor lady just wanted her medical bills to be paid
*hate
Sure!! Anybody who sues wants money!!
I wouldn't have awarded her even 1 dollar. She spilled the coffee on herself, nobody else did it for her.
@@romanmir01 thats not the problem tho? the problem is how hot the coffee was in the first place. no coffee should be hot enough to melt your skin all the way to the bone.
@@cocraine b.s. Coffee is supposed to be that hot, I drink it that way every day for decades. What it is not supposed to be is placed directly against the skin surface and held there for enough time to cause damage and the lady did just that.
There’s a good documentary called Hot Coffee (2011) that dives deeper into this story for anyone that’s interested.
No really? Wow it's not like it was mentioned in the video 0:
One of my favorite documentaries!!!!!
When I watched it, I cried bc she was shamed so badly.
Thank you.👍🏽
L.A. Skillen you have too much time on your hands loser
Poor lady, she didn't want money, just to keep people safe, bless her
Yup
+Emily Nguyen She wanted to be payed for her medical bills, that's the real problem here
But I believe there were many more people burned by MacCoffee after she won the lawsuit.
And to shut McDonald’s hot coffee
Emily Nguyen Amen
Listen! I am a nurse at an assisted living home, one of my elderly residents went in his electric power chair to mc Donald’s across the street, he got a coffee, put it in his cup holder and started back- going over the bumps of the side walk the coffee spilled on his leg. He had 3rd degree burns! We had to send him to the emergency room and after we did wound care for months! It was so deep and painful, now it’s healed and he has a massive scar. They serve their coffee at an outlandishly high temperature. We banned cup holders on scooters and power chairs bc of this event.
Why did you do that silly? Don't you want millionaire clients? Makes for better job security.
i work at an assisted living facility and they tell us let the soup and coffee sit and cool off before we serve it
Whoa I work at an assisted living facility and they don't let our residents have electric power chairs
Bro this is mad fake
Lesbian Amazon Sister Yeah from the lawsuit it said they only reduced it 10 degrees. I’m assuming this is Fahrenheit and not celcuis but that doesn’t sound like much of an improvement.
I remember hearing about this case when I was a (European) teen, and thinking how ridiculous it was. This is one of the many reasons why I'm much more critical of media now, especially when the narrative is that a large corporation is portrayed as the victim. This most likely means that corporate money was funneled through someone/somewhere to change the narrative and everyone else uncritically following suit.
This is one of the many rare cases where the media was justified. If you ignore the images and just listen to the woman's thought process as to why she did what she did, you would go back to not having any sympathy. She basically caused this with her own silly actions and lack of better judgement/laziness.
So years ago you were European?
@@jameshubert6103 Read it again - “when I was a (European) teen.”
I was a teen; the European was an add-on to the sentence for clarity.
@@Lemonz1989 r/wooosh
@@jameshubert6103 Funny
I think a lot of people here are thinking "hot" in this case means "Oh! Man, that's hot! That's gonna leave a blister." That's no "blister" at 5:15.
Yes, coffee is hot. But it shouldn't be SO hot that it destroys your flesh and causes it to fall off your body, requiring skin grafts. Besides, the McDonalds in question admitted to making the water much higher than the recommended temperature because it makes the beans last longer, thus saving them money.
It's pretty open and shut.
Except that it isn't open and shut. Not since Liebeck has anyone won a lawsuit for coffee being too hot and causing severe burns. They have all been dismissed because they are frivolous lawsuits. The fact is, McD's coffee was no hotter than most other companies. According to the national coffee association, McD's conformed to industry standards. And still to this day, places like Starbucks serve coffee just as hot, sometimes even hotter, than what Liebeck experienced. All subsequent attempts to sue companies for having "too hot" of coffee have failed. All have been dismissed because negligence on your part doesn't constitute reparations on the company's part. A company can only guarantee your safety if you use their product PROPERLY. Any attempt to misuse, mishandle, or disregard caution releases the company from any liability.
GrowMasterGeneral Why do you think coffee that melts skin isn't too hot?
Agreed. Coffee that's too hot sounds silly. Coffee so hot it melts skin - too hot.
Paul Williamson What is it about personal opinion that you don't understand? You think it's too hot. Great, don't buy it. No one's forcing you to. You have that right. And it's McD's right to serve coffee at a temp the majority of their customers prefer. The majority of McD's customers want their coffee brewed that hot because they are commuters who drink their coffee when they get to work. Who are you to say that McD's can't meet the demand of their customers? I'm seriously asking. You haven't offered anything remotely resembling a cogent, rational thought. You just keep repeating yourself and it's not progressing the debate.
Paul Williamson It's "too hot"? Ok, why? Your answer is that it "melts skin." But the fact is, it will only "melt" your skin if you mishandle it. Many things can cause severe damage or even death if mishandled. This is why "too hot" is only your opinion. The potential danger from misuse doesn't automatically make a product too dangerous. Hammers and nails wouldn't exist if everyone subscribed to your asinine logic.
So then you change the argument to "it's unexpectedly hot". Sorry, bud, ignorance of the consequences doesn't excuse you from responsibility. This is precisely the point made in the link I gave.
Then you modify that argument and say "any reasonable person..." I disagree. Any reasonable person is aware that coffee can burn. Everyone is aware of that. Oh, but not 3rd degree burns, you say? Well, any reasonable person handles coffee the same way whether it causes 1st,2nd, or 3rd degree burns. Nobody wants to get burned at all. Only an unreasonable person would say 2nd deg burns are fine, but not 3rd deg. That's moronic.
And finally, without fail, you resort back to repeating yourself "coffee that melts skin is too hot". Thus continuing the never ending cycle of retardation.
Pretty much, her story is misunderstood. She was not driving with coffee in her lap. She was sitting in a parked car, and opened the lid, then it spilled, and she received 3rd degrees burns to 16% of her body. She took McDonalds to court to make a statement and get them to reduce the temperature at which coffee is served.
In the end, the jury suggested that she be awarded 2.3 million. However (and this is where a lot of people get it wrong), she was awarded around $500 000.
The 2.3 million was merely a suggestion from the jury. The judge significantly reduced it.
The story got public, but people misreported. Words were twisted, and people said she drove with the coffee in her lap, and said she got the millions (when she didn't).
Many people had this perception that the lady was at after moneg, and foolish for driving with hot coffee, when it wasn't the case. Poor lady was ridiculed by others, like TV hosts and shows for the remainder of her life...
that makes way more sense! thank you
the opinion remains. She caused the spill, she should endure the consequences of the spill. Did BP sue mother nature for making oil toxic to the ocean?
@@hamschh But mother nature wasn't the sole cause of that oil spill, BP cut corners when building their oil drill.
TheRoyalHam McDonald’s had been serving coffee that was 190 degrees, which is close to the boiling point of water. Why would anyone think that was okay to do?
And they MADE the top! She didn't make the top, did she?
they should have shown everyone whoever laughed, pictures of that poor woman's burns.
When I saw the burns... I just wanted to cry... Just thinking about all the jokes that were made.... Sorry.
baberina1 honestly
When I eats sheets the grass will run the wall like a bean
It was entirely her own fault, so I feel no sympathy for her. The fact that she got rich from her own stupid mistakes makes me mad.
@@TJSpyke It wasn't. McDonalds had atleast 700 previous cases of similar burns, and it had a study looking into how keeping the temperature higher would be economical for them including the cost of litigation arising from injury from the excessive hot coffee. They knew the consequences of keeping the temperature higher, and made sure it remained that way anyways. It's a case of corporations putting people's lives at risk. There could be people with mental disabilities dying from this. In this very specific case, her death 10 years later was also partly a result of this.
@@vedant9378 no, it wasn't. She was already old. And their coffee is no hotter than what you make at home. This was a case of stupidity. It was 100% her fault, and this was a frivolous lawsuit
I'm so mad that this poor little lady became a punchline.
Me too, doll!!
Like it or not she placing herself at the centre of snowball effects by going public. Hot coffee put on your lap?, well you can see why the public so interested. American people like to sue over everything, even dog poop can be brought to the court. Of course the most unheard-of or ridiculous case will be spread, this case is one of those unfortunately.
Me also.
@Seraph909 And I will punch you back
she deserves it! she is a greasy old freeloader!
$10,000 in medical bills?! That’s messed up.
American healthcare is a cartel
When I had a kidney stone back then the bill was over $5000. I had some morphine and an X-ray....that was it!
@@mrbear1302 this isnt same but my sister had a kidney stone but it was all free as we lived in The Netherlands
I was in the hospital for 4hrs after a car accident my bill came out to 8k. The Healthcare system is a joke here
You have 69 subscribers
Saw this in the documentary, I was just blown away. I don't know a single person who didn't know this story wrong, including myself before I watched the documentary Hot Coffee.
I remember hearing about this when I was about five years old grew up knowing the story and never had a face to the victim until today my heart aches seeing the harassment she had to endure.
It's MAY have been her fault that the the coffee spilled but it's not her fault she suffered 3rd degree burns. The coffee was WAY hotter than it should been.
+Its aapenguin No, they said the temperature in the video. These are proper coffee brewing temperatures. It was not way too hot. They just made proper coffee.
It's all BS. Coffee is best brewed at 90-95°C. This is almost boiling. If you use instant coffee it will be right from boiling in a kettle.
This is of course too hot to drink, but coffee will be served at almost this temperature. This will be the case in McDonalds as well as in any espresso based coffee in a coffee shop.
If it brewed colder you have weak cardboard tasting coffee.
I know very well what third degree burns or like, when I was a kid I got molten lead over my neck and shoulders in a casting accident. This accident was entirely my fault.
If you spill soup, coffee or tea over yourself, you will get burned. You shouldn't blame someone else.
Sander Vercammen The points of what you're trying to say is confusing. In the first 2 paragraphs you said that coffee is best brewed at 90-95 degrees Celsius but you also admitted that it's not good for serving people. You also said that it would be served almost as hot as the brewing temperature. In context on what you said for the rest of the comment you imply that it's okay to do that even though you yourself just said in the second paragraph that it's not good for serving people. You literally destroyed your own argument with the first 2 paragraphs.
In answer to the 3rd paragraph, so what if the coffee tastes a little worse it's still better to be safe than sorry. And if McDonald's were brewing the coffee at near boiling then they should of a(made a more explicit warning like"Warning: would caused 3rd degree burns if spilled immediately" or b(wait for the coffee to cool off more on the counter
I don't have enough details on your incident to make a good reply to that. And it really depends on the details on if it were your fault or not like Who was casting the lead?, Did he or she give proper warning?, etc....
No, I said to hot to drink, not to hot to serve. There are many foods and drinks that are made too hot too drink or eat, that does not mean it should be cooled before it is served.
Sander Vercammen 1. Sorry for saying that you said serve and not drink. The reason I conflate the 2 is that I think for something to be served is based on if it's safe for the people to consume. 2. Yeah alot of foods and drinks come a bit too hot but not to the point of hospitalization. If a food or drink ever goes to that then it should be cooled off to not put people in the hospital.
The comments in this section are absolutely idiotic !!
All this woman was asking for was 10,000 dollars for medical bills , McDonald's offered 800 dollars, less than 10% of her medical bills, that's insulting!!
+93hickey she's actually lucky she didn't actually drink the coffee cause it would have been a lot worse. How about you actually search up how bad the burn marks were in Google images or do your research, because this was completely not her fault, cause even if she didn't spill it, she would've drank it and it would have been so much worse.
+Fasoliful If drink coffee right after it's brewed off course you wil get burned. Have you people ever made a decent coffee? The temperatures quoted are the proper coffee making temperatures.
She got burned, it's her fault, her insurance should have covered it, but it's not mcdonalds fault.
yeah but LA inspection already deemed their water temperature unsafe and worrying so while spilling the coffee was her fault (which is something the average person might do by accident) it is MCdonalds fault for not changing their water temperature even after it was deemed unsafe to serve, i mean you can get burn from coffee but it should not be so hot that it is able to melt your genitals together
she didn't drink it idiot! she spilled it on herself (Which is her fault) but its mcdonalds fault for not changing the tempature.
+Taylor T I didn't say she drank it
at 6:14 on the list of how people got burned, one said 'manager threw coffee at and burned face'.... Lol..
lmfao
Loooooolllllll
Some manager was simply having a bad day I guess.
I guess someone got fired that day.
McDonalds is really ridiculous they couldn't even give this old lady $10,000 for her bad burns but Nestle is here giving my mom $5,000 because when she was eating turtles chocolate her tooth broke and Nestle is literally one of the most evil companys out there.
I would not have awarded her even 1 dollar, she spilled the coffee on herself.
In 1992, Stella Liebeck spilled scalding McDonald's coffee in her lap and later sued the company, attracting a flood of negative attention. It turns out there was more to the story.
Should there be federal and/or state limits on the amount of general compensatory and/or punitive damages juries can award in negligence cases?
Faafetai Tausili
I really don't think so. There is no limitation to the scope of a civil case. For example, what sum of money can you put on the Exxon Valdez compensation?
Legally speaking, the punitive damages from these awards are designed to scale according to the damages, so the idea of limiting the amount by mandate, as opposed to by judicial decree is somewhat defeating the purpose.
"More to the story" She causes her own pain then sues because of what she did. I wouldn't buy a nail gun and shoot a nail into myself then sue the company who sold me that nail gun....
aDayInTheMindOfMe
*_Wild_* *_reductionist_* *_opinion_* *_appears!_*
Faafetai Tausili
Sure, just as soon as they limit copyright damages... HAHAHAHA!
The pics of her severe burns is enough to vindicate her and see that McDonald's was wrong
Whoo I really wasn't ready for those pictures :O( lord have mercy
Nope...she is a dummy that spilled it on herself.
@@MrTonyProductionz She did admit that the spilling was a fault in her part. But a fast food chain serving coffee hot enough to fuse your labia to your thighs is plain wrong.
@@PrInCeShAdE1
That's like saying to sell a knife top sharp n if you drop it on your foot n cut yourself sue the company
Tri knives are sold with the intent to cut things so by your logic McDonald's coffee is sold with the purpose of burning someone's labia to their thigh
In 1990 I got a coffee from Arby's that gave me second degree burns luckily I was wearing thick pants. The pain was terrible, my husband at the time told me to shut up it can"t hurt that bad. Those scars lasted five years.
... that dude still your husband? Because that seems quite cruel 🤔
Iggi 120 “at the time”
Spill coffee on his crotch and tell him to shut up and take it like a man
@@WhiteBloggerBlackSpecs we normally do
White Blogger Black Specs lol 👍
Lady just wanted her medical bills paid, she asked for less than she owed even. Courts decided she was 20% at fault, McDonalds 80% - she made a reasonable request per the court's decision. She ended up with around 600k, extras went towards a live-in nurse and her quality of life was said to be terrible after the incident.
Coffee that can cause third degree burns is undrinkable.
TheMasonator777 My grandma drunk it all the time. she just didn't spill it in herself. and didn't drink ut instantly
Third degree Mcburns
Ok well they should've only refunded her then.
TheMasonator777 I don't get the point of a drink being served too hot to drink.
But the point of going to McDonald is getting instant fast drinkable coffee. Who will chose to bring along buying chitty food if they have time.
my memory was pretty much how George Will described it, with a caveat: She sued & McDonald's was forced to label their cups: "HOT"; whether she WON was unclear.
So, i DIDN'T remember that:
She was elderly.
She won money.
She was parked.
She WAS found to be partially, "at fault".
The coffee was 190° !
The judgment was knocked down to a fair $500k.
McDonald's was forced to reduce the TEMPERATURE of their coffee.
(And i doubt ANYONE knew about the skin grafts!)
Thanks for the retro-report. It's sad to think of becoming a punchline, & it's heartbreaking to know that she passed away like that. 💔
exactly. i pictured a 30-something blond soccer mom talking on a cell phone driving with coffee in her lap. then i saw the documentary Hot Coffee so good! None of us think of ourselves as biased or unreasonable, but we all are, at least at times. That Hot Coffee documentary had a huge impact on me
Thank you. 👍
And no point has ever been made of the DESIGN of the coffee cup? A bad design is part of what caused the burns
It’s a cup. What do you want changed?😂
And you deduced this how?
I'm old enough to remember those cups.
They were super cheap, as though they might fall apart in your hands if you grabbed the cup wrong.
People have been drinking hot coffee for millenia. They have, apparently, devolved into thinking that the drinking vessel needs a major technological re-engineer.
@Mike will : The cup didn't fall apart or disintegrate. Stella spilled the coffee when she removed the lid.
In this country we literally have to sue corporations into taking responsibility for their actions, Americans are seen as overly litigious because that’s the only thing we can do to protect ourselves in our country since the government can’t do anything right
yeah in rest of world corporations are terrific and honest and also rest of world they have terrific awesome very transparent courts that take litigants very serious and the laws are totally not structured in a way that pain and suffering is capped at $1000 or punitive damages are not a thing. nations like canada and france have some of the most ethical companies that treat consumers with respect, and are not at all in bed with the politicians who love the tax revenues these companies bring in to fund their stupid social experiments like universal income. and nations like canada do not protect corrupt corporations either it never happens. usa bad rest of world so much better
Actually, Germany is by far the most litigious country. The U.S. ranks fifth.
Actually that’s a common misconception. The U.S. isnt actually as “litigious” as believed because most people simply do not have the resources available for a lawyer or are afraid / unsure of what to do, which is sad because these people are usually the ones who need it the most. It’s the key takeaway of this video and case: people try and paint a narrative that people are frivolous, but really aren’t. Saying our country is full of frivolous lawsuits, really only benefit the wealthy and corporations.
@@gotacallfromvishal Cool. Glad to hear that.
WOW i just learned something new today. Thanks for sharing Stella's story.
Bruh, the coffee was almost boiling
That's normal. Brewing coffee is done at almost boiling as that's as close as you can get to using the beans properly without burning them.
XerShade Finally an intellectual.
im suing mcdonalds because my icecream was too cold
@@naitranaitra8196 I'm sueing because the ice was very cold
But seriously, poor lady!
@@Xershade I know this is a month ago but yes the coffee is brewed very hot. But not boiling because you can drink an espresso straight after it's made. It's the milk that makes the coffee hot
those burns were disgusting
poor woman
Poor mcdonalds, they work for their money.
Wow I've lost faith in humanity she made a mistake and Mac Donalds made a mistake end of story
For crying out loud, water heaters have warnings on them that temps that high are scalding... and McDonald's serves coffee at that temp.
I'm a hot black coffee man myself, but I don't enjoy second degree burns of my mouth.
I measure the temperature of hot liquids I drink and none of them surpass 150 degrees let alone 180. I think McDonald's doesn't know the difference between coffee's hot brewing temperature (for proper extraction) and the serving temperature. You let the coffee cool for some minutes then maintain it's serving temperature (~160) with a hot pad.
I agree. Coffee shouldn't be hot enough to burn ur skin lol
I knew people who worked with me in service at McDonalds with big scars on their hands from coffee serving
PAIN
Fast food scars are the worst. I have so many oil burns, bruises, cuts, etc. It sucks. I can get a horrible burn on my arm while cooking someone’s onion rings, only for them to tell me I’m bad at my job after I hand them out. 🙃
@@brittney6535 Thank you for your service!
ever since i got my first job at a fast food place when i was 17 never again working at a fast food restaurant. its nasty af thankfully now my job is easy and not dealing with food
I feel like a lot of people are commenting without watching the video...
+FrmSyriaWithLuv
What? No! People on the Internet never comment in an uninformed manner. What are you even on about?
Eman DeMoan Pour boiling hot coffee on your lap, I'm sure you'd beg to differ.
Eman DeMoan
How so?
if the coffee was that hot, imagine what it could've done to her tongue.
I remember in a book that I had that the mouth and the lips have a defense for hot food or drinks.
A lot less. Your mouth can handle heat but your junk can't.
@@Bakumatsu1 yeah but if a coffee is hot enough to literally cause 3rd burn to your skin, then I guess it would be somewhat damaging to your tongue (or your mouth as a whole)
But then again, your mouth would signal your brain to pull away the hot cup of coffee.
@Hello Buddy ouch, I never loved Biology... so my knowledge about it is quite limited :(( pls don't bully me pls :(
She literally suffered permanent disfigurement and was disabled for 2 years due to the severity of her burns. Even lost 20 pounds during her stay in the hospital. This wasn’t a frivolous lawsuit. All she wanted was for her medical expenses to be covered.
@Skwhirl a coffee shouldn't permanently disfigure you if spilt
@@SweatierAcorn
That’s why McDonald’s had to be sued. Their coffee was so hot, it was causing injuries.
@@laurahuynh8333 ik, I think the comment I had responded to was deleted.
I didn't realize how public this case became in television... awful, the jokes weren't even good
Wow it’s like pouring lava on your leg and then people call you a brat for suing that company. Poor lady
Well, when you handle it in a manner that puts you at risk, I doubt it's even 50% their fault. You need an IQ test before you're served coffee if you think between your legs is a great place to hold it.
@@blupyxi5669 did you even watch the video?
@@blupyxi5669 you dummie watch the video stupid person lol so ignorant
@@llamaliammm your ignorant person who needs to watch the video before all talk think you know it all
@@artisticlion9218 Do it INSIDE THE STORE!
I'm so glad I saw this! I had no idea about the truth and I feel terrible for some of the things I've said about this woman's case. She deserves every penny.
What's the truth? It's still the same thing. She shouldn't have put that coffee on her lap. Especially if she was sitting in a car.
Jean Paul Yes, that is true, but it is far from the story that has been perpetuated over the years. Clearly, the truth does not even suggest that she was looking to make some easy money by taking advantage of the legal system. It was an honest case and after seeing those pictures, yikes! I would honestly never want to have to deal with those kinds of burns, not even for a lot of money.
I'm just glad that her actual story is finally being told. She should sue all of the media giants for defamation of character! ;)
Hearts0fSpace If you made coffee at home, do you think you wouldn't end up with 3rd degree burns? What about the billions of people who drank their coffee everyday from McDs. Did their lips get 3rd degree burns?
Melanie Jackson I'm not sure I'm following...
Hearts0fSpace
sure you don't.
You'll think it's crazy and that she's a Karen until you actually see the burns. The burns she suffered were horrendous
I'm glad I watched this. I'm guilty of making jokes too but not any more. 190* degrees wtf McDonald's.
watch hot coffee. really interesting
All I ever heard from customers when I worked at McD's when I was 18 was, "It's not hot enough!"
Same happened to me but at a hotel and with tea. Spilled it on myself after I had opened it, was already sitting out for a good 2 mins and was 180-190 degrees.
G Salerno that’s literally almost the temperature of boiling water
@@thatsabsurd6804 Yup. didn't get a free hotel night or anything, kinda sad.
Americans will believe anything. im so ashamed that i used to hate this woman as well, even though i heard of this case years after she already died. she did us a public service, exposing the carelessness and callousness of giant corporations.
She was never vindicated from the rhetoric against her due to the gag order on her.
Except she was still wrong to sue. McDonalds did nothing wrong. They were actually holding the coffee at a temperature BELOW that recommended by the Specialty Coffee Association of America.
gamewizard Where are you getting this stuff from? Are you using today's standard and retroactively applying it to 1992? Specialty Coffee Association of America recommends the temperature for taste, it's views on safety of coffee at that temp is another question that was never address publicly until later cases. She assumed the risk of spilling coffee of which the jury found her partly liable and reduced damages. She never assumed the risk of coffee so hot that it would cause 3rd degree burns.
canoeshoe "Warning contents may be hot" - what part of that didn't she understand even if it cause 3rd degree burns... She also had the chance to ask her grandson to help her out...
***** Yeah when I see "caution hot" on a cup i think "maybe i shouldn't gulp it" not "oh god my tongue is melting from a sip"
Imagine what would happen if she had drank it! Her throat would have burned opened!
Very Depressed Muffin Any sane person would know that it's too hot to drink.
@@dementos7806 by the same logic any sane person would know its too hot to sell.
Very Depressed Muffin it’s a good thing she spilled it in her leg and nit drank it like you said... I mean it’s not good but better than never eating without a tube again
But who downs freshly brewed coffee?
She would've touched it to her lips and stopped. Not like she was going to down 8 oz of hot coffee in the first sip
The fact that she got third-degree burns from a coffee shows how hot it was
It was as hot as it needs to be. I drink tea and coffee that hot daily.
*"Manager threw coffee at and burned face"*
Excuse me, what??? Lmao
Its kind of disgusting this poor woman was the end of so many jokes once you see the pictures of how bad the burns were.
Bad burns as the result of her spilling it on herself, not McDonald's doing anything to her.
Especially overseas, where people joke about “lol americans”
@@DeadFishFactory true, as bad as I feel about her getting such damage, its similar to a person complaining that a car can go 85mph and slam straight into a barricade and dying instantly is the car manufacturers fault when obviously it wasn't Intended to specifically hit a wall just like the coffee was not meant to be spilled.
L3G1T well it’s kinda different... even if she did use it as intended she would have burned her mouth. 180 degrees??? Come on it’s ridiculous!
@@cupcake_ram4227 1) it warns you on the cup. 2) hot beverage means hot beverage. 3) coffee has to be brewed at a high temp, albiet not as hot as they do but similarly high temp, as to extract the coffee from the coffee grounds with the water or you'll get less coffee more water.
This is Awful, her burns were severe from the pictures that were taken. Then having show these pictures in court too prove herself before her peers has to be humiliating. Especially since she is a Lady. Sorry for the pain you had too endure Stelle Liebeck.
I mean they’re not her peers..
@@allisson5790 I believe he means it in the sense of "tried before a jury of your peers" the people are from her town anyway
"Especially since she is a Lady." ...
...
TF is that supposed to mean? That it was humiliating for her, especially because she is a lady? What is embarrassing about being a lady??? All that was shown were her injuries on her leg, with nothing humiliating in the pictures. Another point... "having to show these pictures in court to prove herself." Really? It's a court, that is the point.
🙈🙉🙊
What does being a "Lady" have to do with anything? She burned herself horribly by spilling the coffee on herself. End of story.
This woman is the reason Maccas can’t sell molton lava. Imagine giving a child 3rd degree burns because of an accident. 2.9m sounds about right.
@KP Sniper they don’t have to give a child coffee for an accident to happen. Children at Maccas is very common. Children bumping into someone, wouldn’t be a strange accident.
Calling McDonald's maccas is the most australian thing in existence
She got less than 500k. Please stop spreading this false number
@@dsembers8865 yeah but lots went into a nurse to care for her, she became deformed after this
I wonder if the family still goes to MC.
Minecraft is definitely something they visit everyday.
they surely do don't worry
Is MC still serving coffee at 180 + degrees hmmm?
No need for her family to go to MC because they already have a sum of money that you will never see...
MellowMadnessRMX you know it but they aren't allowed to eat or drink anything not at room temperature
summarized for all those who…
OVERLOOKED FACTS:
・McDonald's knew the coffee was too hot.
・McDonald's knew people were getting severely burned.
・McDonald's had no intention of lowering the coffee temp. even with knowledge of the two facts above.
・Stella Liebeck was only asking for the amount needed to cover her Hospital bills.
・Stella Liebeck wanted McDonald's to reevaluate the coffee temperature.(so others wouldn't have to suffer)
・McDonalds coffee temperature was 30 degrees hotter than standard home brewing machines.
・Burn expert testified 3rd degree burns in 15 seconds at that temp.
・The reason for the large settlement was that the jury found it necessary to punish McDonald's in order to bring them to action.
・McDonald's did lower the coffee temperature after the trial.
・McDonald's had poorly constructed coffee cups at that time, not the ones we use today
It's not about misuse of product, legal system or anything else.
It's about keeping big companies responsible and accountable to the customers from whom they benefit.
Making Ms. Stella Liebeck the villain and McDonald's the victim, paves the way for Corporations to do what they want with no respect, responsibility or accountability to the general public / us .
She didn't deserve 1 dollar for spilling the coffee on herself.
McDonald's coffee "must now be held and served ten degrees lower." It's still too darn hot. The first thing I want to do when I get coffee is drink it, not wait half an hour to be safe.
Man all she wanted was to not cost her family 10s of thousand of dollars and to make it better for people in the future.
Pay 10,000 or pay 2,000,000
guess what McDonalds chose
To pay 500,000. I wonder if you chose to watch the whole video or comment half way through the video.
I think the original commenter meant that they could have originally paid the money she originally asked for but instead chose to spend more money on lawyers than they would have if she had settled
Go eat a bag of fermented wieners
And it was only 2 days worth of coffee sales for them.
@@janeybear101 McDonald's wasn't responsible. She spilled it on herself and she had it between her legs. Coffee is HOT! I thought hot coffee drinkers already knew this.
This was bound to happen, she probably would've burnt her throat instead anyways.
OnFight1997 exactlyyyy
Lol.... Listen water boils at 100 degrees Celsius. She would not burned her throat. The water boiled in your kettle as hot as it gets
JAY 1981 So were gonna act like youre saying that wouldnt cause injuries?...
JAY 1981 That would absolutely destroy her throat.
JAY 1981 It was 190 degrees.
Coffee should never be that hot. A dangerous product shouldn't be sold. If it injures that many people, to that extent, then it needs to be corrected or discontinued.
So, dont sell silverware or industrial coffee brewers.. got it
@@someonerandom9939 You think you could drop a fork in your lap, and have damage over your entire pelvis? If there were a more ridiculous equivalence, I would have to right it on a piece of paper, and have it framed so I can hang it up my house.
Preston Siegler ice exists. Chances are that she asked for it fresh and if it was too hot for her, ice exists. Poor lady, but what the heck. Thanks for coming to my ted talk.
Nikki Sweet hey chances are she didn’t ask for it “fresh”. Thanks for coming up with an excuse to your argument. I want you to accidentally spill coffee on yourself and see if you still feel the same way. “Hey ice exists you know” Jesus grow up
Cat Som As an employee, I have indeed spilled fresh coffee, hot water, etc. on my arms and hands. The corporation doesn’t give out fresh coffee without it being requested or warning the customer. Just some facts.
That’s why it’s always important to hear from both sides.
yes, and not to award for negligence, this lady was negligent.
@romanmir01 I've been drinking coffee from Mcdo from the get go and not once did I suffer a 3rd degree burn from some spill. The coffee operator of that branch should be the one to pay her medical bills.
All McDonald's had to do was pay her medical bills of $10k and there's a good chance this might have gone away. After seeing her burns, she deserved some compensation and the $500k seems fair. McDonald's shouldn't have been so callous and take a closer at her claim.
nah
It would have opened them up to other similar civil suits. That $10k could quickly have gone into millions. Plus they weren't wrong. They were following industry standards. If good information indicated that industry standards were inadequate than the entire industry needed to change. Not just one brand.
Sean Webb I'm pretty sure it did go into millions, especially since I worked for the insurance company that did pay. McDonald's sure didn't. And I'm glad the true facts did come out, McDonald's knew for years it was way too hot. They did not even get into the worst if what this lady suffered from the burns, it was more personal than they alluded to.
@@thatsmytwocents4372 Are you saying that you have direct knowledge of the case and the settlement?
McDonald’s did the smart thing. 500k dollars for worldwide publicity. And people are STILL talking about it.
I feel like majority of the people commenting negatively about this woman have not bothered to search up the facts of the case or even watch the whole documentary. What a shame to just assume things when you have clearly not researched the case well enough to understand it.
+Palange041 You didn't watch the video, did you?
Yeah, we get it. The coffee was hot. She spilled it. She got burned. However, she only undertook the ORDINARY risks of "hot coffee", such as minor scald and some cleanup, not serious debilitation by third degree burns.
***** It is, however, McDonalds' job to not overheat the coffee that much.
Everyone seems to be forgetting that all she asked for on the first pass was her medical bills.
Silkendrum maccas wasn't at fault. Simple. She was at fault. Absolute joke! Coffee is hot. Doesn't matter how hot. If you choose to order it & drive with it in your hands, lap, feet, whatever!
You accept the risk, you accept the potential outcome. 😂
Wow. That old lady, looked like she got attacked by a flesh eating bacteria... McDonald's was so arrogant for not compensating her when she had a valid situation
Her burns were horrific and I remember feeling terrible for her but she spilled it on herself. An employee didn't spill it on her. Why is that so hard to understand?
@@bonniestewart2654 Coffee isn't supposed to cause 3rd degree burns. Why is that so hard to understand?
@@markkoehr5003 neither the kitchen knives, it's too sharp, it can cut someone.
Berembah exactly kitchen knives aren’t supposed to cause 3rd degree burn. If a kitchen knife was causing 3rd degree burns that would be a problem. Thank you for agreeing with us.
@@markkoehr5003
let me try to spill some 180-200 degree Celsius cofee on your lap and than see how many degree burn it causes
Poor lady. She deserves ten times more. 100 times more. Those pictures were brutal. 🥺😭
I work at Starbucks. Our normal temperature is 150°, if you ask for it extra hot, it's 180°. The hottest we can go by standard is around 190. Let me tell you, this is HOT. 150 is most likely already enough to burn you but 180-190? I couldn't even imagine.
I feel bad for this poor woman and having everything changed by the media. I remember also laughing at how "ridiculous" the case was without really knowing the facts, and I'm so sorry for doing so. Don't judge a book by it's cover.
Lydia Van Sant when I worked for Starbucks the hottest I made was 200. I dumped a little on my hand, I felt like I had just dipped my hand in lava.
working at starbucks for a few months, i was scalded by that 150 degree coffee a lot, and you NEED to apply the burn cream, so really, even if it WAS her fault, which it was, remember that that coffee was WAY too hot, and she was elderly, so also, regarding the design of the cup, not as easy for an elderly person to open. now, i suppose you could say, if someone orders XTRA HOT, the 190 degree coffee at STARBUCKS and they spill it on themselves, they cannot sue, as they chose for it to be that hot. the difference is, for Ms Liebeck, is that we don't know nor get to choose the temperature of the coffee from restaurants, aside from Starbucks.
@@SparkleRanger Why would you make it that hot? I would just refuse to make it for the customer out of safety concerns.
@@nerychristian You don't know how to make coffee. The water has to be around 200F for it to brew properly. LOOK IT UP
Ray Baker This.
The result of the lawsuit is that coffee in the US is nowadays sold and probably also brewed at a temperature too low to produce the optimal product. Or in other world a jury decided that US citizens have to drink bad coffee.
here's your coffee, just give it a few minutes to stop boiling
My God...she's in her 80's!! What are the chances of 80+ yr olds spilling anything? ...Give me a break....
@@jimshoe6699 r/woooosh
The first time I heard the *real* story of the hot coffee was while reading a case study in a college class. I felt like a jerk realizing I had made jokes about this poor lady in the past. It was a good lesson on getting the full story before drawing conclusions. It breaks my heart that she died having felt judged and ridiculed for years and years.
Everyone needs to understand that the $2 million is punitive damages, which are designed to punish McDonalds into changing their ways.
Except they did nothing wrong. They served her coffee at the normal temperature in a safe cup. SHE is the one that chose to put it between her legs while driving. How can they be blamed for a customers stupidity?
@NY Gamer, b/c they had notice of their coffee hurting people before this incident. A McDonalds worker doesn’t need to throw coffee on a customer in order for them to be liable. Negligence doesn’t require intent.
@@randymarsh3582 coffee is SUPPOSED to be hot. You get hot coffee anywhere and spill it, you'll burn yourself. If you buy a knife and cut yourself doing the same thing she did, would you support them suing? A company isn't responsible if you use their product other than how they intended and injure yourself
@NY Gamer, this is how tort law works. And they did find she had contributed to the injury and the damages were adjusted but McDonalds was at fault too. How did she not use the product how normally would be? You don’t ever put drinks between your legs? Is that outside what a reasonable person would do? This is first year law school stuff
@@randymarsh3582 I don't put hot drinks between my legs, it's common sense. In fact, I try not to put any drinks between my legs because it makes it harder to drive. Especially since pretty much every car has cup holders for this very reason. I don't put all the blame on her, some belongs to the jury.
When McDonald's lost the case, I am sure they were not loving it.
I learned about this case In my tort law class. In my mind this is a simple issue that was made into a circus. I look at the basic definition of negligence and that is McDonald's served her boiling not too hot but boiling coffee. McDonald's had a duty to not harm it's customers which means the coffee needed to be served lower in temprature. By giving her a cup of coffee the such a high temperature McDonald's showed negligent behavior that was the proximate cause of her injuries. That is why McDonald's is responsible for this incident.
Jason Mims: Agree, and Sally was lucky that she was not that thirsty to have gulped the coffee the moment she got it.
Jason Mims who actually spilled the coffee? If you cut yourself with a knife. Are the company responseable for making a very sharp knife?
superjnova annularaurora you missed the whole point, didn’t you, buddy? The point is that MCDonalds is responsible for the safety of the customers. Just like knife manufacturers can’t make their knives dull.
@@simonli4484 wait what? So if you cut yourself with a knife?
Jason Mims, spoken like a true tort lawyer. I just spilled my coffee reading your comment, and I am suing you for negligence of thought.
Saw this and the burns were horrendous!!!!
She wasn't "burned," she was SCALDED! There's a difference!
Scalding is called a thermal burn, so yeah, she was still burned.
SCALDED by her own actions and laziness.
@@ibendover4817 watch the video kid
@@EEF-jz8rv lol, funny how it's usually some snotty teenager with no life experience calling others kids. Move out of mommy's basement and get some common sense. The lady tried to win the darwin award that year, she doesn't deserve compensation. No wonder your country is falling apart.
@@ibendover4817 Youre acting like youve never made a single mistake, people spill things, its life. The drink shouldnt have been hot enough to melt her skin, she should have gotten more money. Plus she never wanted to sue Mcdonalds, only wanted her med bills payed and for the coffee temps to decrease, youre jealous she got money or something, so ignorant.