Canadians Try To Roast Americans Over ‘Caution Hot’ Signs On Coffee Cups, Get Burned With Comebacks
It’s a story that has been parodied, joked about and mocked – the McDonald’s hot coffee case. Through the telling and retelling of the infamous tale, the gist became that 79-year-old Stella Liebeck got burnt by some hot coffee from the fast-food restaurant and sued them. Well, duh, coffee is supposed to be hot, became the joke and Liebeck became the face of ignorant Americans.
The verdict for the lawsuit was delivered in 1994, but people still find ways to mercilessly mock the ordeal. One Canadian coffee shop even used it for marketing on their cups. Fed-up with people not knowing all the details there are many people who have responded to these jokes with the real facts of the case – delivering some burns of their own.
A coffee shop in Canada joined in on the numerous jokes that have been made about the McDonald’s ‘hot coffee case’ over the years
But some people, fed up with the gross mistelling of the case, were happy to share the facts
The name of the case is Liebeck v. McDonald’s and was misrepresented by the media as a frivolous case
Image credits: JOE MARQUETTE/AP
It all began in 1992 in a McDonald’s parking lot. Liebeck was sitting in the passengers’ seat of a car and had the cup held between her knees while she was removing the lid to add cream and sugar. The cup tipped over and spilled the coffee into her lap. Most of us have spilled a drink in our laps at one point or another but what happened to Liebeck next uncovered a pattern of negligence from the company.
She suffered third-degree burns in three seconds through her clothes that covered 16 percent of her body, including her inner thighs and genitals. The coffee even burned away layers of muscle and fatty tissue. Liebeck had to be hospitalized for eight days and had to get skin grafts among other treatments. Her recovery spanned over the course of two years
According to the American Museum of Tort Law: “Liebeck offered to settle the case for $20,000, but the company refused. McDonald’s offered Liebeck only $800—which did not even cover her medical expenses.”
The importance of the case went beyond Liebeck though. During the trial, they heart from experts who said McDonald’s coffee was 30 to 40 degrees hotter other companies. The jury also hear testimonials and learned 700 other people—including children—had been burned before and despite this, the company had not changed its policy.
Kenneth Wagner, the Albuquerque lawyer who represented Liebeck, said: “We knew, before the lawsuit was filed, that the temperature of the water was 190 degrees or so, and the franchise documents required that of the franchise,” and explained, “Our position was that the product was unreasonably dangerous, and the temperature should have been lower,”
“The trial judge reduced the punitive damages to $480,000, while noting that McDonald’s behavior had been “willful, wanton, and reckless.” The parties later settled for a confidential amount. According to news accounts, this amount was less than $500,000,” states the American Museum of Tort Law.
In an attempt to correct the skewed misrepresentation of the story trial lawyer Susan Saladoff made a documentary called “Hot Coffee,” in 2011. The film set out to shed light on the facts of the case and possibly change some of the public perceptions about Liebeck. Unfortunately even today, this story is still inaccurately retold and mocked.
148Kviews
Share on FacebookLegit if you g-oogle the pics, you'll understand the full story - albeit yes shes old and her skin more fragile but jees louise! SHE ALMOST LOST HER HOO HA!!!
I feel really guilty for laughing hard when I read "SHE ALMOST LOST HER HOO HA!!!"
Load More Replies...There’s no reason to heat coffee to a temperature that can cause third degree burns. If you dump fresh coffee on yourself, it should only cause first degree, second at absolute worse. People drop things. People will always drop things. This woman was not young.
Yep. I've spilt hot drinks on myself numerous times, the worst I've got was a small blister. That she got 3rd degree burns should really inform people that McDonald's were completely negligent.
Load More Replies...I live in Italy and I often order coffee in bars/restaurants and buy it at coffee machines. I've never been served coffee so hot that it could cause third degree burns- typically coffee is served at the right temperature to be drank straight away (if I had to guess I'd say between 60-70 degrees Celsius). If I ordered a coffee in the USA I'd expect it to be hot, sure, but not dangerously so. What's the point in serving a drink that requires several minutes to become actually drinkable anyway? And for those who say that it was her fault she spilled the coffee, accidents can happen to anyone. For example, once I was drinking coffee and a friend who was sitting next to me knocked my hand while gesticulating. I ended up with coffee on my hair, face and t-shirt. If the coffee had been McDonalds-level hot I could have ended up with burns on my face and chest through no fault of my own. As a corporation, you shouldn't sell stuff that could harm your customers in everyday circumstances.
I even picked up a coffee with a lid improperly applied and it didn't take much pressure for the lid to pop off, then weaken the cup enough for me to press in more. If the coffee was this hot I'd be in the same situation.
Load More Replies...Interesting and informative. I hate it when I get a coffee and it's piping hot so that you can't drink it. "Yay, thank you for burning the flavour of everything!"
TRUTH!! Coffee doesn't have to be that damn hot to be enjoyable. At come point too how means you've already ruined the flavor/robustness of the bean. Sorry bit of a Aeropress coffee snob here.
Load More Replies...As a Canadian, I find jokes like that utterly tasteless since I know the true story behind that case. I really and truly hate how the media have spun it so that most people think of this case whenever they want to cite an example of 'Frivolousness American Lawsuits'. There was no reason to serve the coffee that hot. None. They knew it was too hot, and kept doing it anyway. They fully deserved to get their asses sued over it. Coffee SERVED FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION does not need to be so hot that it could cause 3rd (and even 4th!) degree burns. 3rd degree burns = full layer of skin. 4th degree burns = muscle, tendon & bone. So she did actually suffer from 4th degree burns as well. Which is insane for a beverage served to a customer. You brew it that hot, you don't SERVE it that hot.
I second that. I was more likely a part of the clan and secretly made fun of the woman back then. I was younger. Man do I feel like poop. That's why I always keep an open mind and always wait to here both sides.
Load More Replies...I wish people would do research before the assume things. I did a paper on this case and I was astounded to learn how hot McDonalds had been keeping their coffee, even though they were warned several times about the possibility of law suits. Liebeck spent many of nights in the hospital and had to have skin grafts to repair the damage.
The misinformation was everywhere. Even reasonable people were conditioned to think the lawsuit was frivolous.
Load More Replies...Seriously, do NOT google pictures of the poor woman's burns. I guarantee you don't want to see it. Also, there's a great Adam Ruins Everything about this on YouTube.
I used to think it was a b******t case too, until I actually stopped listening to rumour, and looked into the case myself. Looking deeper into it, you can see that McD's don't see you as a person, just $$. They knew that lowering the temp of the coffee would cost more in wastage than settling these sorts of lawsuits; ie. McD's don't give a s**t who gets burned, it's more expensive to throw lukewarm coffee down the sink than pay your medical bills. For a good roundup of the case, check out the podcast Swindled, season 2 episode 2 The Lawsuit.
Well, really. Does any adult really believe that a corporation, any corporation, worries about people??? All they want is money. All corporations. Look at the problem with opioids, because the manufacturers didn't want to warn the doctors and patients that it was highly addictive. The problem is: not only corporations. Lawyers would sue the Holy Spirit if they could get a good amount of money out of it. They don't care about their clients either. In this case, the lawyers probably couldn't care less about the justice or injustice of the situation, only how much they were going to earn. There's no such thing as "the truth". The corporation lies because they want to earn more, and the lawyers lie because the bigger the compensation, the bigger their earnings.
Load More Replies...So they over heat their coffee and under heat everything else, especially fries
As someone who works in the legal profession I am so glad to see the truth of the story get out. This is not to say they are not frivolous lawsuits in the world-there are - but this is absolutely not one of them. If a beverage this hot had been spilled on a baby or a child in that car, no one would be laughing.
I got third degree burns from a pot of coffee being spilled on my lap at my 3rd birthday at a showbizz pizza. I remember the pain.
Load More Replies...I learned something very interesting today. And it gave me another reason to be happy for not consuming McDonald's products.
Does anyone know, what is considered the 'safe' temperature for a hot drink?
Usually around 130 degrees f, but most of it is served at 160-185 degrees, even though at that temperature it can still cause burns. Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18226454
Load More Replies...I knew the story and do not envy this woman. Especially the way McDonalds tried to discredit her. But to be honest, it does not explain the warning printed on their coffee
Well they did explain it Radek...it is to protect themselves from future incidents. They can't be held liable if they "warned" you on the coffee cup.
Load More Replies...The court case in question is more of an tale of stupid and greedy corporations then on individual greed.
The label on the cup is still not helpful, it's just a legal loophole that allows businesses to claim that they gave fair warning.
Idiot right-wing, profit and dividend hungry, rabid unhuman and inhumane greedy shysters sticking it to Americans every time, for every dime, and worsening every day under Herr drumpflethinskin.
Was it still boiling? Or do they make coffee in American McDonald from molted glass? Besides, coffee in American McD is awful..
I trully am sorry to see that people actually need a label stating coffee is hot to realize that it actually is hot! 3rd degree burns are very serious and having been caused by hot coffee only implies that something is terribly wrong with the person that had them. Eitherway and even considering that she should not have had to endure such pain the reason behind the burns is....negligence, and I am not talking about negligence from macdonalds but from the lady that decided to hold a paper/plastic cup between her knees to remove the lid. She was the one that caused the disaster due to her own negligent behavior. She endangered herself. Now we have a phrase stating that the content of the cup can burn due to temperature....its just Mcdonads way of covering themselves against stupidity.
Hot could mean anything. If they are going to serve coffee hot enough to burn off your genitals, they should put "hot enough to burn off your genitals" on the cup.
Load More Replies...90% of canada's population lives near our border. they have a reliance issue, while mocking settled law from 30 years ago.
While the lady who sued may have had burns to the bone, third degree burns don't go to the bone. They extend to the fat layer that lies beneath the skin. I mean, if we're talking about facts...
LOL ... i was in mexico and the pastor (my uncle ) was literally preaching about this !!!
According to https://www.reference.com/health/temperature-human-skin-burn-82a1af6b1322b289 3rd degree burns occur at 162°F. The ideal coffee temperature is 175°F. So, even if the coffee was kept at the correct temperature, this woman would probably have had at least 2 nd degree burns. That makes her stupid anyway.
We believe the myth because it’s what we’ve been told, and it was done so as to discourage lawsuits against corporations. Hell when I was younger I believed this too because it was the ONLY information about this case that I had ever been given through mainstream media. Suffice to say, over the years I have grown a complete mistrust over mainstream media. People forget that they are corporations too, who will only give the you the information they THEY decide is important to you rather than what you think is useful for you.
Shame there are so many ignorant retards that bought into mcshittles b******t that they did on purpose to shame the poor woman (who was one of a lot of people hurt) and to discourage suits against them... sadly it worked very well
Setting aside the story behind this article, over -use of warning signs is making ppl more foolish! many ppl have lost the skill/ability to assess their environment/surroundings for danger, and use their brain.
While I fully agree that this was a particularly horrendous case, (that poor old woman!) and McDonald's deserved every bit of bad press and every dime lost because of it... I have to take exception to the "right wing tort reform movement" statement. Frivolous lawsuits and insurance scams are the reason the United States' Healthcare costs are sky high, and why insurance is such a b***h these days. Ok, not 100% but a BIG part of it.
Utterly false. That’s what the insurance companies want you to believe. The reason costs are so high is that it is a profit-focused business and they do everything in their power to NOT pay out to people on claims. Justifying the cost is merely part of their PR.
Load More Replies...I always heard that children's super hero capes in America, have a warning that says 'This clothing does not give the power of flight.' No idea of its true or not!
I thought everyone knew that the boiling point of water was 100 degrees?? (Which is pretty hot!) ...So any hot drink has the potential to be as hot as this, and should be handled with appropriate caution. The warning on the cups is silly, but it also tells you all you need to know about capitalism, when a rich corporation aren't willing to reduce the temperature slightly, for a major increase in consumer safety.
After reading this article and all the comments, I've learned something valuable. Coffee is hot. Handle with care. Regardless of either argument from either side, hot beverages are going to be hot and should be treated as a potentially dangerous item. I'm an ice coffee person, so I can chug my my coffee and get on with my day. If I do want something hot though, I handle it with the respect that a dangerous item deserves. The level of heat should not be the focus here, the handling of a known hazard is.
You are downplaying the level of hotness by just saying all coffee is hot. The level of heat is very important because your skin definitely cares. Violating health codes and all is no big deal especially if that health code is meant to protect you form 3rd degree burns. But by all means don't let your righteousness change because of some pesky facts.
Load More Replies...Very upseting to hear. Thank you for being awareness to the situation If your reading this I hope you have a great day and know. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 NIV
Do Canadian jokesters feel like the asses they look like? This indeed was a terrible accident and mcdonald's acted like a straight up bunch of a*s wipes.
This isn't about the McDonald's case, so why try to make it about that? That coffee was heated beyond boiling, it was not merely "hot".This is about the stupid warnings Americans seem to need to put on all their products, warnings that would not be necessary in the presence of average common sense. Canadians have common sense. Apparently Americans do not, given the ridiculous warnings and disclaimers you see on everything.
Knew the facts before and still think that’s funny as hell! They also wouldn't have to sue to have medical costs covered in Canada because......Free Health Care! Its not the best system, but at least you don't go broke paying medical bills!
You think 3rd-degree burns are funny as hell? Your pretty cruel and antipathetic.
Load More Replies...None of them mention that she was driving away with the cup of coffee between her legs.
So, it still friggin hot and god damn, I won't hold my paper cup coffee between my thighs to add sugar and cream. I do it on a table and let my friggin coffee rest before even touching my lips. I would sue McDo, if that black water they serve taste like..... Turpentine or lemon freshner.
Good for you what’s your point? I’m extremely vegan and anti McDonalds but their coffee is amazing. It wins awards in blind taste tests. People just trick themselves into hating it because we all hate where it comes from.
Load More Replies...I don't know that this is a great comeback. It does clear up why that is the case but it doesn't make the USA look any better. It is suggested that we allow a company to sell a product in such a way that it is dangerous and they are legally covered.
Not the takeaway I got from this. No, we shouldn’t allow a company to do this.
Load More Replies...It was an accident. No need to put the advice in all cups. When I drive a car, I don't expect to find a sign on it saying: "Caution! It can go fast"
Quick thought. I’ve never bought coffee at McDonals in the U.S, but doesnt they serve coffee in papercups? Unless this poor lady was in a real hurry or had extreme coffee-cravings (been there) is it even possible to grab a cup containing liquid at such high temperature? I can’t hold a 200 ℉ cup of anything even if it’s a thick teacup... Or maybe her reflexes made her spill the coffee over herself? .. hmm.. However. If someone serves me a cup with what is supposed to be full of some hot beverage I wouldn’t throw myself over it.... But what do I know, in the heat of the moment.. at Mcdonalds.....
Oh, thanks for the info! It makes sense of the scenario. (I'm Swedish and I haven't heard about neither the incident or the Canadian... stuff....) It must been a beyong-horrible feeling... goddamn.. Why would it EVER be a good idea to serve almost boiling coffee in a drive-thru... (?)
Load More Replies...I work in a burns unit and the "comebacks" just aren't true and are likely made up by the lawyers. 1. 22% for spilling coffee in your lap has never happened. At most, if it splashed, it would be 5%. It's likely the lawyer are including the area for the skin grafts in the burns percentage which was misleading. I see lawyers do this all the time. 2. While the time it takes burns to heal is as individual as each person, it does not take TWO YEARS of intensive treatment. The average stay for a healthy adult who has had skin grafts is three weeks. I have seen 95% third-degree burns that haven't taken two years of "intensive treatment". Define "Intensive" by the way. 3. Losing 20% of a person's body weight doesn't happen unless the hospital isn't supplying the correct food OR the person was morbidly obese to start with. The standard care is a High Energy High Protein diet to assist with healing. Lots of higher calorie foods and a nasogastric tube. The usually gain weight.
Go look at the photos of her burns and then decide what percentage it was.
Load More Replies...What most people don’t seem to understand is that Americans have no choice but to sue because they are routinely denied basic health care. If this woman didn’t have health insurance, she could easily have ended up homeless or worse, denied any care or surgery just because she couldn’t afford the hundreds of thousands of dollars it would cost. ...///... Canadians - and I am one - think that’s just flat out stupid. With universal health care, there is no need to sue to cover hospital bills - you’ve been paying for your health care all your life. In fact, punitive damages are limited to $10,000.00 in ANY lawsuit because Canadians know that it’s stupid to give all that money to lawyers because it makes any settlement disappear anyway.
Load More Replies...It's the same here where I live. Everyone just treats every hot drink as a potentially burn-causing liquid and is extremely careful. But in other countries, customers may want to see more care about their safety. Hence the suing.
Load More Replies...There’s a strikingly dramatic difference between merely “hot” and “life threatening”. Customers EXPECT hot. They do not EXPECT life-threatening injuries level of hot. They shouldn’t need to.
Load More Replies...They have a responsibility to store, cook and serve food at appropriate temperatures whether hot or cold. This product at this temp was unsafe to an unreasonable extent
Load More Replies...It’s not written to warn people. It’s written so nobody can ever sue again if and when they get burnt.
Load More Replies...Are you truly this dense? How embarrassing for you.
Load More Replies...The same thing would have happened if she drank it, genius. Stop acting informed if you didn’t read the article.
Load More Replies...Wow, thanks for disabusing me of the stereotype that Canadians are nice.
Load More Replies...Wow. Did you even read the article? And pipe down with the ‘c**t’s.
Load More Replies...So you think she should have assumed that the coffee would be hot enough to risk her life and to literally maim her? That’s not merely hot; that’s explicitly dangerous.
Load More Replies...What McD's served her was illegal. They had been warned not to serve it several. They did it anyway.
Load More Replies...1) she was being careful, but s**t happens. 2) Mcdonald's is NOT a small cafe.
Load More Replies...Because toilet water is normally drinkable. If you get water from the tank on the back of your commode, it should be perfectly safe to drink. In cases where toilet water isn’t potable, you’d want to know, especially if there were an emergency or you lost access to other sources of water.
Load More Replies...Depending on the amount of water and location of the burn, it can be an "ouch that hurt" or a "get an ambulance" burn. Plus, you were most likely wearing a work uniform, of which the cloth is usually thicker than everyday clothes.
Load More Replies...I just finished nursing my SO through second degree burns on his foot from boiling water straight off the stove, SECOND degree, water that hot shouldn't be handed to anyone in a cup paper, styrofoam or two inch thick ceramic
Load More Replies...Legit if you g-oogle the pics, you'll understand the full story - albeit yes shes old and her skin more fragile but jees louise! SHE ALMOST LOST HER HOO HA!!!
I feel really guilty for laughing hard when I read "SHE ALMOST LOST HER HOO HA!!!"
Load More Replies...There’s no reason to heat coffee to a temperature that can cause third degree burns. If you dump fresh coffee on yourself, it should only cause first degree, second at absolute worse. People drop things. People will always drop things. This woman was not young.
Yep. I've spilt hot drinks on myself numerous times, the worst I've got was a small blister. That she got 3rd degree burns should really inform people that McDonald's were completely negligent.
Load More Replies...I live in Italy and I often order coffee in bars/restaurants and buy it at coffee machines. I've never been served coffee so hot that it could cause third degree burns- typically coffee is served at the right temperature to be drank straight away (if I had to guess I'd say between 60-70 degrees Celsius). If I ordered a coffee in the USA I'd expect it to be hot, sure, but not dangerously so. What's the point in serving a drink that requires several minutes to become actually drinkable anyway? And for those who say that it was her fault she spilled the coffee, accidents can happen to anyone. For example, once I was drinking coffee and a friend who was sitting next to me knocked my hand while gesticulating. I ended up with coffee on my hair, face and t-shirt. If the coffee had been McDonalds-level hot I could have ended up with burns on my face and chest through no fault of my own. As a corporation, you shouldn't sell stuff that could harm your customers in everyday circumstances.
I even picked up a coffee with a lid improperly applied and it didn't take much pressure for the lid to pop off, then weaken the cup enough for me to press in more. If the coffee was this hot I'd be in the same situation.
Load More Replies...Interesting and informative. I hate it when I get a coffee and it's piping hot so that you can't drink it. "Yay, thank you for burning the flavour of everything!"
TRUTH!! Coffee doesn't have to be that damn hot to be enjoyable. At come point too how means you've already ruined the flavor/robustness of the bean. Sorry bit of a Aeropress coffee snob here.
Load More Replies...As a Canadian, I find jokes like that utterly tasteless since I know the true story behind that case. I really and truly hate how the media have spun it so that most people think of this case whenever they want to cite an example of 'Frivolousness American Lawsuits'. There was no reason to serve the coffee that hot. None. They knew it was too hot, and kept doing it anyway. They fully deserved to get their asses sued over it. Coffee SERVED FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION does not need to be so hot that it could cause 3rd (and even 4th!) degree burns. 3rd degree burns = full layer of skin. 4th degree burns = muscle, tendon & bone. So she did actually suffer from 4th degree burns as well. Which is insane for a beverage served to a customer. You brew it that hot, you don't SERVE it that hot.
I second that. I was more likely a part of the clan and secretly made fun of the woman back then. I was younger. Man do I feel like poop. That's why I always keep an open mind and always wait to here both sides.
Load More Replies...I wish people would do research before the assume things. I did a paper on this case and I was astounded to learn how hot McDonalds had been keeping their coffee, even though they were warned several times about the possibility of law suits. Liebeck spent many of nights in the hospital and had to have skin grafts to repair the damage.
The misinformation was everywhere. Even reasonable people were conditioned to think the lawsuit was frivolous.
Load More Replies...Seriously, do NOT google pictures of the poor woman's burns. I guarantee you don't want to see it. Also, there's a great Adam Ruins Everything about this on YouTube.
I used to think it was a b******t case too, until I actually stopped listening to rumour, and looked into the case myself. Looking deeper into it, you can see that McD's don't see you as a person, just $$. They knew that lowering the temp of the coffee would cost more in wastage than settling these sorts of lawsuits; ie. McD's don't give a s**t who gets burned, it's more expensive to throw lukewarm coffee down the sink than pay your medical bills. For a good roundup of the case, check out the podcast Swindled, season 2 episode 2 The Lawsuit.
Well, really. Does any adult really believe that a corporation, any corporation, worries about people??? All they want is money. All corporations. Look at the problem with opioids, because the manufacturers didn't want to warn the doctors and patients that it was highly addictive. The problem is: not only corporations. Lawyers would sue the Holy Spirit if they could get a good amount of money out of it. They don't care about their clients either. In this case, the lawyers probably couldn't care less about the justice or injustice of the situation, only how much they were going to earn. There's no such thing as "the truth". The corporation lies because they want to earn more, and the lawyers lie because the bigger the compensation, the bigger their earnings.
Load More Replies...So they over heat their coffee and under heat everything else, especially fries
As someone who works in the legal profession I am so glad to see the truth of the story get out. This is not to say they are not frivolous lawsuits in the world-there are - but this is absolutely not one of them. If a beverage this hot had been spilled on a baby or a child in that car, no one would be laughing.
I got third degree burns from a pot of coffee being spilled on my lap at my 3rd birthday at a showbizz pizza. I remember the pain.
Load More Replies...I learned something very interesting today. And it gave me another reason to be happy for not consuming McDonald's products.
Does anyone know, what is considered the 'safe' temperature for a hot drink?
Usually around 130 degrees f, but most of it is served at 160-185 degrees, even though at that temperature it can still cause burns. Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18226454
Load More Replies...I knew the story and do not envy this woman. Especially the way McDonalds tried to discredit her. But to be honest, it does not explain the warning printed on their coffee
Well they did explain it Radek...it is to protect themselves from future incidents. They can't be held liable if they "warned" you on the coffee cup.
Load More Replies...The court case in question is more of an tale of stupid and greedy corporations then on individual greed.
The label on the cup is still not helpful, it's just a legal loophole that allows businesses to claim that they gave fair warning.
Idiot right-wing, profit and dividend hungry, rabid unhuman and inhumane greedy shysters sticking it to Americans every time, for every dime, and worsening every day under Herr drumpflethinskin.
Was it still boiling? Or do they make coffee in American McDonald from molted glass? Besides, coffee in American McD is awful..
I trully am sorry to see that people actually need a label stating coffee is hot to realize that it actually is hot! 3rd degree burns are very serious and having been caused by hot coffee only implies that something is terribly wrong with the person that had them. Eitherway and even considering that she should not have had to endure such pain the reason behind the burns is....negligence, and I am not talking about negligence from macdonalds but from the lady that decided to hold a paper/plastic cup between her knees to remove the lid. She was the one that caused the disaster due to her own negligent behavior. She endangered herself. Now we have a phrase stating that the content of the cup can burn due to temperature....its just Mcdonads way of covering themselves against stupidity.
Hot could mean anything. If they are going to serve coffee hot enough to burn off your genitals, they should put "hot enough to burn off your genitals" on the cup.
Load More Replies...90% of canada's population lives near our border. they have a reliance issue, while mocking settled law from 30 years ago.
While the lady who sued may have had burns to the bone, third degree burns don't go to the bone. They extend to the fat layer that lies beneath the skin. I mean, if we're talking about facts...
LOL ... i was in mexico and the pastor (my uncle ) was literally preaching about this !!!
According to https://www.reference.com/health/temperature-human-skin-burn-82a1af6b1322b289 3rd degree burns occur at 162°F. The ideal coffee temperature is 175°F. So, even if the coffee was kept at the correct temperature, this woman would probably have had at least 2 nd degree burns. That makes her stupid anyway.
We believe the myth because it’s what we’ve been told, and it was done so as to discourage lawsuits against corporations. Hell when I was younger I believed this too because it was the ONLY information about this case that I had ever been given through mainstream media. Suffice to say, over the years I have grown a complete mistrust over mainstream media. People forget that they are corporations too, who will only give the you the information they THEY decide is important to you rather than what you think is useful for you.
Shame there are so many ignorant retards that bought into mcshittles b******t that they did on purpose to shame the poor woman (who was one of a lot of people hurt) and to discourage suits against them... sadly it worked very well
Setting aside the story behind this article, over -use of warning signs is making ppl more foolish! many ppl have lost the skill/ability to assess their environment/surroundings for danger, and use their brain.
While I fully agree that this was a particularly horrendous case, (that poor old woman!) and McDonald's deserved every bit of bad press and every dime lost because of it... I have to take exception to the "right wing tort reform movement" statement. Frivolous lawsuits and insurance scams are the reason the United States' Healthcare costs are sky high, and why insurance is such a b***h these days. Ok, not 100% but a BIG part of it.
Utterly false. That’s what the insurance companies want you to believe. The reason costs are so high is that it is a profit-focused business and they do everything in their power to NOT pay out to people on claims. Justifying the cost is merely part of their PR.
Load More Replies...I always heard that children's super hero capes in America, have a warning that says 'This clothing does not give the power of flight.' No idea of its true or not!
I thought everyone knew that the boiling point of water was 100 degrees?? (Which is pretty hot!) ...So any hot drink has the potential to be as hot as this, and should be handled with appropriate caution. The warning on the cups is silly, but it also tells you all you need to know about capitalism, when a rich corporation aren't willing to reduce the temperature slightly, for a major increase in consumer safety.
After reading this article and all the comments, I've learned something valuable. Coffee is hot. Handle with care. Regardless of either argument from either side, hot beverages are going to be hot and should be treated as a potentially dangerous item. I'm an ice coffee person, so I can chug my my coffee and get on with my day. If I do want something hot though, I handle it with the respect that a dangerous item deserves. The level of heat should not be the focus here, the handling of a known hazard is.
You are downplaying the level of hotness by just saying all coffee is hot. The level of heat is very important because your skin definitely cares. Violating health codes and all is no big deal especially if that health code is meant to protect you form 3rd degree burns. But by all means don't let your righteousness change because of some pesky facts.
Load More Replies...Very upseting to hear. Thank you for being awareness to the situation If your reading this I hope you have a great day and know. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 NIV
Do Canadian jokesters feel like the asses they look like? This indeed was a terrible accident and mcdonald's acted like a straight up bunch of a*s wipes.
This isn't about the McDonald's case, so why try to make it about that? That coffee was heated beyond boiling, it was not merely "hot".This is about the stupid warnings Americans seem to need to put on all their products, warnings that would not be necessary in the presence of average common sense. Canadians have common sense. Apparently Americans do not, given the ridiculous warnings and disclaimers you see on everything.
Knew the facts before and still think that’s funny as hell! They also wouldn't have to sue to have medical costs covered in Canada because......Free Health Care! Its not the best system, but at least you don't go broke paying medical bills!
You think 3rd-degree burns are funny as hell? Your pretty cruel and antipathetic.
Load More Replies...None of them mention that she was driving away with the cup of coffee between her legs.
So, it still friggin hot and god damn, I won't hold my paper cup coffee between my thighs to add sugar and cream. I do it on a table and let my friggin coffee rest before even touching my lips. I would sue McDo, if that black water they serve taste like..... Turpentine or lemon freshner.
Good for you what’s your point? I’m extremely vegan and anti McDonalds but their coffee is amazing. It wins awards in blind taste tests. People just trick themselves into hating it because we all hate where it comes from.
Load More Replies...I don't know that this is a great comeback. It does clear up why that is the case but it doesn't make the USA look any better. It is suggested that we allow a company to sell a product in such a way that it is dangerous and they are legally covered.
Not the takeaway I got from this. No, we shouldn’t allow a company to do this.
Load More Replies...It was an accident. No need to put the advice in all cups. When I drive a car, I don't expect to find a sign on it saying: "Caution! It can go fast"
Quick thought. I’ve never bought coffee at McDonals in the U.S, but doesnt they serve coffee in papercups? Unless this poor lady was in a real hurry or had extreme coffee-cravings (been there) is it even possible to grab a cup containing liquid at such high temperature? I can’t hold a 200 ℉ cup of anything even if it’s a thick teacup... Or maybe her reflexes made her spill the coffee over herself? .. hmm.. However. If someone serves me a cup with what is supposed to be full of some hot beverage I wouldn’t throw myself over it.... But what do I know, in the heat of the moment.. at Mcdonalds.....
Oh, thanks for the info! It makes sense of the scenario. (I'm Swedish and I haven't heard about neither the incident or the Canadian... stuff....) It must been a beyong-horrible feeling... goddamn.. Why would it EVER be a good idea to serve almost boiling coffee in a drive-thru... (?)
Load More Replies...I work in a burns unit and the "comebacks" just aren't true and are likely made up by the lawyers. 1. 22% for spilling coffee in your lap has never happened. At most, if it splashed, it would be 5%. It's likely the lawyer are including the area for the skin grafts in the burns percentage which was misleading. I see lawyers do this all the time. 2. While the time it takes burns to heal is as individual as each person, it does not take TWO YEARS of intensive treatment. The average stay for a healthy adult who has had skin grafts is three weeks. I have seen 95% third-degree burns that haven't taken two years of "intensive treatment". Define "Intensive" by the way. 3. Losing 20% of a person's body weight doesn't happen unless the hospital isn't supplying the correct food OR the person was morbidly obese to start with. The standard care is a High Energy High Protein diet to assist with healing. Lots of higher calorie foods and a nasogastric tube. The usually gain weight.
Go look at the photos of her burns and then decide what percentage it was.
Load More Replies...What most people don’t seem to understand is that Americans have no choice but to sue because they are routinely denied basic health care. If this woman didn’t have health insurance, she could easily have ended up homeless or worse, denied any care or surgery just because she couldn’t afford the hundreds of thousands of dollars it would cost. ...///... Canadians - and I am one - think that’s just flat out stupid. With universal health care, there is no need to sue to cover hospital bills - you’ve been paying for your health care all your life. In fact, punitive damages are limited to $10,000.00 in ANY lawsuit because Canadians know that it’s stupid to give all that money to lawyers because it makes any settlement disappear anyway.
Load More Replies...It's the same here where I live. Everyone just treats every hot drink as a potentially burn-causing liquid and is extremely careful. But in other countries, customers may want to see more care about their safety. Hence the suing.
Load More Replies...There’s a strikingly dramatic difference between merely “hot” and “life threatening”. Customers EXPECT hot. They do not EXPECT life-threatening injuries level of hot. They shouldn’t need to.
Load More Replies...They have a responsibility to store, cook and serve food at appropriate temperatures whether hot or cold. This product at this temp was unsafe to an unreasonable extent
Load More Replies...It’s not written to warn people. It’s written so nobody can ever sue again if and when they get burnt.
Load More Replies...Are you truly this dense? How embarrassing for you.
Load More Replies...The same thing would have happened if she drank it, genius. Stop acting informed if you didn’t read the article.
Load More Replies...Wow, thanks for disabusing me of the stereotype that Canadians are nice.
Load More Replies...Wow. Did you even read the article? And pipe down with the ‘c**t’s.
Load More Replies...So you think she should have assumed that the coffee would be hot enough to risk her life and to literally maim her? That’s not merely hot; that’s explicitly dangerous.
Load More Replies...What McD's served her was illegal. They had been warned not to serve it several. They did it anyway.
Load More Replies...1) she was being careful, but s**t happens. 2) Mcdonald's is NOT a small cafe.
Load More Replies...Because toilet water is normally drinkable. If you get water from the tank on the back of your commode, it should be perfectly safe to drink. In cases where toilet water isn’t potable, you’d want to know, especially if there were an emergency or you lost access to other sources of water.
Load More Replies...Depending on the amount of water and location of the burn, it can be an "ouch that hurt" or a "get an ambulance" burn. Plus, you were most likely wearing a work uniform, of which the cloth is usually thicker than everyday clothes.
Load More Replies...I just finished nursing my SO through second degree burns on his foot from boiling water straight off the stove, SECOND degree, water that hot shouldn't be handed to anyone in a cup paper, styrofoam or two inch thick ceramic
Load More Replies...
276
230