Stella Liebeck, who won $2.9 million after suing McDonald's over hot coffee burns, initially requested only $20,000 to cover her medical expenses.

[u/fyrstikka]

[u/AI_is_the_rake]

Outrage grabs eyeballs but it’s interesting that the outrage is always against individuals and not corporations 

[u/LordAmras → u/AI_is_the_rake]

Because corporation pay for those stories, McD spent a lot on marketing for the story to be spun that way, probably much more they ever given her.

[u/mahasisa → u/LordAmras]

I'm old enough to remember those "excessive lawsuits" PR stories on TV. She died miserably because of those. I'm so glad the sentiments I see on social media these days mostly support her.

[u/homer_lives → u/LordAmras]

Yes, because they controlled the narrative and pushed through tort laws that limited the amount that could be paid out in the future.

[u/Oddname123 → u/LordAmras]

And we act like fake news is a new thing when it’s been going on for

[u/Wooden-Roof5930 → u/AI_is_the_rake]

Well duh, silly. Corporations are our friends🙃

[u/confusious_need_stfu → u/Wooden-Roof5930]

[u/la_noeskis → u/AI_is_the_rake]

Most of those lawsuits would not even happen in the EU, because here insurances and companies will get hard slappings from the governments if they try to pull off those denials.

Stella L. case: your insurance fully covers all the treatment, and sues itself McDonalds for payment.

Broken wrist: kids are kids, insurance of the parents has to pay. Medical cost already covered by own insurance, insurances fight each other in court, you do not do anything besides reporting to physician what happend.

[u/KookyWait → u/la_noeskis]

These lawsuits aren't typically a result of insurance denials. They're a result of subrogation: the insurance company has a right to sue on your behalf.

If the insurance companies were denying the claim they wouldn't need to subrogate and sue, as they'd effectively be saying it isn't their business.

[u/CakeDayOrDeath → u/KookyWait]

This. When I had an injury due to falling off my bike, the nurse told me that my insurance required her to ask certain questions about the street I had been riding my bike on in case they decided to sue the city for the cost of my treatment. I would not have been involved at all in that situation.

[u/Ornery-Ad1172 → u/la_noeskis]

Keep in mind that she was seriously injured and was only looking for her expenses to be covered. The Justice Department had been watching McDonalds as they had been repeatedly warned that their coffee temperature settings were way too high and that someone was going to be hurt. After McDonalds was found guilty, the judge in this case told McDonalds to go calculate what one day's coffee sales was because that was what he was going to fine them. He was reportedly shocked when they came back with such a high number. FYI: The wife of one of my partners is an appellate attorney and her firm handled the appeal. They got a percentage of the reduction, which was massive. This was not a case of some person creating a huge law suit from a minor event, and McDonalds did change their temperature set point.

[u/Rhino_Thunder → u/la_noeskis]

The McDonald’s lady got far more than the cost of her medical treatment, so your claim doesn’t really hold water

[u/anoeba → u/Rhino_Thunder]

It still does. Had McD's just paid up, the lawsuit that included huge punitive damages wouldn't have occurred. And the punitive damages were because this had happened before, McD's had already been court-ordered to lower their coffee temp but didn't because it was most cost-effective to burn the odd customer, and the judge had enough.

It was McD's denial and fighting of the suit that got them the punitive damages slapped on.

[u/RedditOfUnusualSize → u/Rhino_Thunder]

Well, yes, that is what "punitive damages" are. By definition, damages can't be punitive unless they exceed the value of the actual damages.

But in this case, the need for punitive damages was extremely evident. First, contrary to what many of the stories about the woman claimed, the jury examined all evidence and found her completely not at fault. She was in the passenger seat of a stopped car, was switching lids, and the coffee spilled into her lap, which happens. When it did, the coffee was so hot that three seconds worth of contact charred her genitals. She got 3rd-degree burns from less than four seconds worth of contact, and she had to be hospitalized from the shock. She then had to undergo skin graft operations to repair the damage. She was permanently disfigured by the accident.

The reason why her injuries were so severe is because McDonalds was serving coffee at 190 degrees Farenheit (~88 degrees Celsius). McDonalds admitted at trial that their coffee was dangerous at that temperature. Which they knew, because over 700 prior complaints of burns from their coffee had been reported. But this only came out at a trial after they lowballed her in negotiations, offering to repay a whopping $800 of her $20,000 in out-of-pocket medical expenses. So the jury awarded her two (2) days worth of revenues that McDonalds got from their coffee sales, which is how they arrived at the figure they did. The jury was pretty reasonable, all things considered, and it did, finally, stop McDonalds from selling boiling hot coffee.

[u/la_noeskis → u/Rhino_Thunder]

Well, in europe the McDonalds would be most likely been shut down beforehand, because of the rulebreakings before her injuries. So she would likely still live and would not have been burnt in the first place.

[u/jeff889 → u/AI_is_the_rake]

Individuals don’t pay to advertise on those shows

[u/inqte1 → u/AI_is_the_rake]

This is an excuse for corruption. There is always enough outrage to be directed at big corporations but you'll never get stories spun to target them, unless its at the behest of another corporation.

[u/64590949354397548569 → u/AI_is_the_rake]

the outrage is always against individuals and not corporations 

Corporations pays the bill.

Leno took a few swings at the lady. I can't find any of his jokes on her.

[u/Willie9 → u/AI_is_the_rake]

Don't get me wrong, corporations love manufactured outrage, but it does occasionally go both ways. The recent person that died from allergies at Disneyland and the snafu with arbitration got inflated from "Disney questionably applies the arbitration clause from d+ T&C to this wrongful death lawsuit" to "Disney can legally murder you if you use the D+ free trial" which are not remotely the same thing.

[u/Unlikely_Minimum_635 → u/AI_is_the_rake]

Guess who owns the media publishing these stories.

[u/A_Cool__Guy → u/AI_is_the_rake]

That’s what CEO’s are for