Do cry over spilt coffee; heartbreak

Starting last week I started getting a steady stream of mailings from personal injury lawyers and chiropractors. I have also received phone calls early in the morning on my days off; can I sue for that?

Although this barrage of offers from ambulance chasers may be a great lead-in for a rant on tort reform, I do not buy into that. Although I will not defend our entire legal system, I have found many times that when one learns the true facts of a seemingly frivolous lawsuit, it is clear that the public's perception is a gross misunderstanding.

Perhaps the most famous of "frivolous" consumer lawsuits is that of Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants, or the McDonald's coffee case. Stella Liebeck was a 79-year-old woman who sued McDonald's after burning herself with coffee she spilled in her lap.

McDonald's coffee was not just hot, but was served at 180-190 degrees, a temperature capable of causing third degree burns in 2-7 seconds. McDonald's coffee was significantly hotter than other restaurants' (135-140) and kept it at that temperature despite knowledge of of over 700 other people injuring themselves with it. At this temperature, coffee is undrinkable, so someone may be injured even if they did not commit the oopsidoodle of spilling it (as happens to everyone once in a while).

The car was not moving. Stella did what is intended to be done with drive through coffee and what McDonald's knew would be done with its coffee through market research- sugar and cream would be added if desired and the coffee consumed in the car. She was in the passenger's seat, at a stop.

Stella did not just get a little redness or soreness. She had to hospitalized and receive painful skin grafts and debridements. If you don't know how painful these treatments can be, hopefully you never will.

Liebeck initially tried to settle for a measly $20,000 in medical costs but McDonald's refused. They instead went to court. Although she initially was awarded $160,000 for her injuries and $2.7 in punitive damages, punitive damages were later reduced to $480,000.

The final settlement included a gag agreement, meaning that Stella is not allowed to discuss the final settlement, nor defend herself in the media.

http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cur78.htm

http://lawandhelp.com/q298-2.htm

http://www.vanfirm.com/mcdonalds-coffee-lawsuit.htm

http://www.stellaawards.com/stella.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald%27s_Restaurants

Next time you hear about an ostensibly silly abuse of the legal system, think about where your information is coming from (is it a joke by Jay Leno, or a 30 minute segment on 20/20), is it possible that there is more to it, and lastly, if it is a simple common person up against a giant corporate army of lawyers and the suit has survived long enough to be newsworthy, isn't it possible they may just have a case? When it comes to my opinions on these case without all the facts, my jury is still out.

***
As a personal note, I saw the most heartbreaking thing today. I went up to the lake in the gale force winds and was sprayed with frigid water as I walked the pier and later the beach. I was looking for a Pomarine Jaeger, a bird very rare to this area that had been spotted on a regular basis by a local power plant. While walking along the beach I came upon a small juvenile gull. It was standing right up against a dead adult ring-billed gull. (possibly due to imprinting?) We kind of scared it a little, but even after we walked away, it just sort of wandered aimlessly, going up to the edge of the water but never going in for food and never flying. Just what happened to this baby bird, I don't know, but what is likely to happen will most likely be tragic.

We did not find the Jaeger but we did see a Bald Eagle!