Wrong. The McDonalds case is famous but the facts are widely misunderstood. Stella Liebeck, the plaintiff, wasn’t driving and the car wasn’t moving. She removed the lid to put in cream/sugar. McDonalds kept their coffee much hotter than industry standards so it would stay fresher and they could get more cups to sell from each pot, thereby making more money even though they knew that it could cause 3rd degree burns in seconds. They’d had hundreds of reports of complaints of their coffee causing burns. Ms. Liebeck suffered 3rd degree burns through her sweatpants to her legs and genital area and required extensive medical treatment, hospitalization, and surgery including skin grafts. She offered to settle for payment of her medical expenses – $20,000 – and McDonald offered her $800. The jury did consider all the evidence. The compensatory part of the jury award was $200,000 but recognizing that Ms. Liebeck was partly responsible, the jury reduced the award by 20% to $160,000. The punitive damages part of the award was $2.7 million which amounted to just 2 days of coffee sales for McDonalds. The trial judge reduced the punitive damages award to $480,000. On appeal, the parties settled for less than $600,000.
Actually, I agree with you. If there are minimum age requirements, there can also be a maximum. Also, the presidency is term limited so why not congress? I’d like to see an end to gerrymandering. I think there are also problems with corporate financing, the electoral college and the way some primaries are structured. By the way, here in South Carolina, State Supreme Court Justices must retire at age 72, and I’m beginning to think that might not be a bad idea for the US courts. But, you know, Ben Franklin was 81 years old at the Constitutional Convention!
Wrong. The McDonalds case is famous but the facts are widely misunderstood. Stella Liebeck, the plaintiff, wasn’t driving and the car wasn’t moving. She removed the lid to put in cream/sugar. McDonalds kept their coffee much hotter than industry standards so it would stay fresher and they could get more cups to sell from each pot, thereby making more money even though they knew that it could cause 3rd degree burns in seconds. They’d had hundreds of reports of complaints of their coffee causing burns. Ms. Liebeck suffered 3rd degree burns through her sweatpants to her legs and genital area and required extensive medical treatment, hospitalization, and surgery including skin grafts. She offered to settle for payment of her medical expenses – $20,000 – and McDonald offered her $800. The jury did consider all the evidence. The compensatory part of the jury award was $200,000 but recognizing that Ms. Liebeck was partly responsible, the jury reduced the award by 20% to $160,000. The punitive damages part of the award was $2.7 million which amounted to just 2 days of coffee sales for McDonalds. The trial judge reduced the punitive damages award to $480,000. On appeal, the parties settled for less than $600,000.