McDonald's found liable for hot Chicken McNugget that fell from Happy Meal and burned girl

[Ocelot II]

15. The facts of the 1992 McDonald's hot coffee case were grossly misrepresented

in the popular press. It was all, well, what did you expect if you drove away with a cup of hot coffee? But that's not what happened. The elderly plaintiff was the passenger, the car was not moving, and the coffee spilled on her when she tried to get the lid off to add milk and sugar. She suffered third-degree burns and was in the hospital for a week. Mc Donald's brewed its coffee at between180 and 190 degrees F because it could produce more coffee (and more profits) by making it at a higher temperature, and it knew that this was 20-30 degrees hotter than the coffee served at most other restaurants. It had already received more than 700 complaints or claims about its coffee being too hot. The plaintiff would have settled for her medical expenses but McD's offer was only $800. https://www.findlaw.com/injury/product-liability/the-mcdonald-s-coffee-cup-case-separating-mcfacts-from-mcfiction.html and https://www.tortmuseum.org/liebeck-v-mcdonalds/ I actually had a phone conversation with the lawyer who handled this case because I was working with an attorney who had a similar one, though not as serious (IIRC it settled).

The media reported that the plaintiff was driving and trying to drink the coffee at the same time, which was just false, and it especially became fodder for the likes of Limbaugh (and probably promoted by an insurer). So be careful about this one - people love to assume personal injury lawsuits are frivolous, especially against big corporations. Mostly they aren't because litigating against the likes of McDonalds is so daunting that most lawyers won't take those cases unless they're very strong.