Man dies after locking himself inside car

[WriteThinking]

Seriously, beware of hot coffee. It can be a dangerous thing.

My sister had her shoulder, upper arm and underarm scalded with it when she was two years old, when her twin brother accidentally knocked a cup of it off a table and spilled it onto her way back then. I still remember my mom soaking my sister in tepid-cold water as per emergency personnel and then rushing to the hospital with her while I spent the day at the next-door neighbor's house so she could do it.

My sister's in her 40s now and still has raised, angry-looking scarring left from that incident.

 

[Ace]

The true story is: She was with her grandson, went through the drive through and bought coffee. His car didn't have cup holders. The coffee was between her legs, and she went to add cream and sugar. When she pulled off the lid she spilled the coffee. She was wearing cotton sweat pants. And she suffered very serious burns. It required skin grafting.

She did offer to settle for something like $20K and McDonalds wanted no part of it. When it went to trial, a jury awarded $640K compensation and $2.7 million in punitive damages. The judge reduced the actual verdict to just the $640K, and they settled for a lesser amount rather than going through the appeals process.

Whether it was a meritorious case is debatable. She claimed gross negligence and said McDonald's was selling a defective product. I think most people who used that case as a poster-child for how overly litigious this country is, focused mostly on the punitive damages. It seemed outrageous at the time, regardless of the question of McDonald's liability. And it fed a growing trend, in their view, of dubious lawsuits and outrageous damage awards.

At trial, the plaintiff showed that there had been a bunch of other people who seriously burned themselves on their coffee -- and McDonald's had actually paid out settlement checks of as much as $500K. In this case, for some reason, McD's decided to hold a line. Their view, which many people agree with, is that when you put a cup of hot coffee between your legs in the car and you spill and burn yourself with it, it's no more the restaurant's fault than it would be GE's fault if you accidentally burned your hand on the stove.

I think the one thing about that case that is true is that the story of what happened lost some of the the detail and context over the years.

McDonals's coffee is still noticeably hotter than other coffees. If I ever get it, I can't even sip it for 20 minutes.

 

[Riptide]

McDonals's coffee is still noticeably hotter than other coffees. If I ever get it, I can't even sip it for 20 minutes.

RaceTrac, of all places, has better coffee.

 

[Batman]

Seriously, beware of hot coffee. It can be a dangerous thing.

My sister had her shoulder, upper arm and underarm scalded with it when she was two years old, when her twin brother accidentally knocked a cup of it off a table and spilled it onto her way back then. I still remember my mom soaking my sister in tepid-cold water as per emergency personnel and then rushing to the hospital with her while I spent the day at the next-door neighbor's house so she could do it.

My sister's in her 40s now and still has raised, angry-looking scarring left from that incident.

Not nearly that bad, thank goodness, but a couple of years ago we were on vacation and making coffee in the hotel room. It was a Keurig-like maker, but one that had a slightly different design and was tricky to figure out the first time you used it. I ended up flooding the dispenser-thing and having it pour all over my arm. It wasn't third degree burns, but it wasn't pleasant. Looked and felt like I had a bad sunburn on my forearm for the rest of the trip.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

I always wondered how Starbucks avoided a lawsuit given how hot their coffee usually is.

 

[Vombatus]

I always wondered how Starbucks avoided a lawsuit given how hot their coffee usually is.

Smarter clientele than McD's.

 

[BDC99]

McD's keeps (or kept) their coffee at something like 185 degrees. Your average cup of coffee is 135-140.

 

[Tarheel316]

Sadly, yes. I knew the country was ****ed when that hot coffee case against McDonalds won an exorbitant amount years ago.

No doubt. That was an unfortunate landmark moment for America.

 

[cjericho]

Did he die doing what he loved?

he was in the car with his dog.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

he was in the car with his dog.

It was a Corvette, not a horse trailer.

 

[JC]

McDonals's coffee is still noticeably hotter than other coffees. If I ever get it, I can't even sip it for 20 minutes.

Yet you still order it?

 

[Ace]

Yet you still order it?

Sometimes. I'm patient. And I'm afraid I will choke on an ice cube if I order a Coke.

 

[cjericho]

Sometimes. I'm patient. And I'm afraid I will choke on an ice cube if I order a Coke.

I have a buddy who always gets a Coke with no ice from McD's.

 

[Ace]

I have a buddy who always gets a Coke with no ice from McD's.

The very best things at McDonald's are the straws. They have nice straws. The food is pretty bleh.

 

[murphyc]

When the C6 Corvette came out in 2005, one of the main complaints was the regular door handle had been replaced by a button. In the case of a battery failure, a redundant lever was placed on the floor.