Red Dog

Just watched this last night. It's a documentary about the infamous McDonald's hot coffee spill case. The one that outraged so many.

This should be required viewing for anyone who has ever used that case in an attempt to point out the supposed ills of our civil justice system. Did a nice job of going through what really happened (most of the 'outraged' people have no clue about the facts of the case). It also showed how big corporations used that case in their push for tort reform and what exactly tort reform means in real world application. Also talked about how much money bodies such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have donated to get pro-business lawyers elected to state high courts to uphold such legislation as damage cap statutes.

I assume it will be reaired. I think it's on HBO GO too. I definitely recommend it. And you might want to turn away when you see the burns that the coffee caused.

Groucho

I watched this. HBO is playing it a lot. Some good points are made (particularly on the subject of forced arbitration), but overall it plays like an infomercial for trial lawyers. The tort reform spokesman was remarkably candid, and came off pretty well considering he was supposed to be the "villain" of the piece.

Red Dog

Oh it definitely puts trial lawyers in a good light, but I think it did a good job showing how big business (because it can be so spread out) can dwarf the trial lawyers in political contributions. Yet it's the trial lawyers that usually get most of the criticism for controlling the political process.

wishbone

I was in college at the time of this case and I remember that McDonald's starting printing "Hot Coffee" on their coffee cups. My google image search should have had a similar warning too...

kvrdave

Agree with all three of you. The Hot Coffeee case is one of the reasons we need frivilous lawsuits thrown out and tort reform.

Dr Mabuse

al_bundy

someone i used to know died a few years ago. she had a heart attack and went to one hospital and then was transfered again. I think the final cause of death was a blood clot. the family sued the hospital of course. even though this person was obese, smoked, in poor health and might have had diabetes. but on the bright side her husband at the time did really believe that the hospital killed his wife

msdmoney

I thought it was going to be a documentary about the Grand Theft Auto controversy.

PopcornTreeCt

Saw this documentary today. The burn wounds were wicked nasty. How did they sell coffee that hot and expect people to drink it?

The rest of it was really good. I don't know much about Al Franken but he seemed like a pretty intelligent guy. I don't think this was pro trial lawyers as much as it was anti-corporations. It also had that great example at the end of people voting against things that help them. Sometimes I think we're the only country that votes against its own interests.

al_bundy

maybe it was meant as a CIA torture method and not for general consumption?

FinnFelton

Oh I never heard about it before. It sounds very exciting though. McDonald's is such a popular fast food outlet that such little nuisance won't affect it a bit.

Navinabob

When did it happen? I think it was about 15 years ago... If McD's was going to get a back-lash in sales I think it would have happened by now.

Drexl

Without looking it up, it had to be a bit more than 15 years because Seinfeld ended 16 years ago.



(Looks it up) It was 20 years ago.

RoyalTea

I think McD's rationale is that many customers don't drink their coffee right away, on site. They drink it on the road, and that extra time between purchase and consumption typically cools the coffee down to just "hot" instead of "dangerously hot."

DeputyDave

An odd first post and bump.

kvrdave

Who the hell posts in this dead forum for their first post.

DeputyDave

Especially in an old thread about a subject they never heard about.