Shoplifter sues Wal Mart

[kazzaerexys]

Let's see. You buy a bottle of bleach for your laundry. [...] The bleach is a known caustic and if you mishandle it, it's your fault. Same with a hot cup of coffee. It's known to be hot and if you mishandle it, it's your fault.

False comparison. Bleach is caustic, yes. It burns, yes. Very predictable.

I brew coffee. I'm kind of a coffee snob, really. I use an electric kettle to boil the water and I used an IR thermometer to figure out how long to wait off the boil so the water could hit my freshly ground Sumatran at between 195 and 200 degrees F. If I poured boiling water on myself at that point, I would reasonably expect to get third degree burns.

When I sit down to drink it, though, it does not cause contact burns of the third degree. It just doesn't. Saying that coffee served for drinking was 'performing as intended' under those circumstances is a pretty thorough distortion of reality, however.

Was the jury award high? Yeah, probably, but I can say that if I had been on the jury and listened to the Mickey D's flack testify that they ignored all those 700+ burn complaints because the company had deemed it cheaper to pay people off than change business practice, yeah, I might very well have been tempted to figure out how much it would take to tip those calculations the other way.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[SleepingZ]

FWIW, that McDonalds case was legitimate. Read the case.

McDonalds purposely sold their coffee at a 180F temp - hot enough to cause 3rd degree burns in 3 seconds. They had been asked to lower the temp, but refused for reasons of profit (no one will stick around long enough to get a second -free- cup).

The woman didn't sue for anything but medical costs. McDonalds refused. The jury awarded her a couple of million, but those cases are always appealed. The appeals court brought the amount down to something much more reasonable. (Will look it up if I get time.)

And the woman will have 3rd degree burn scars on her private parts for the rest of her life.

That was nothing like the pond scum at Mall-Wart. Compare apples to apples, please.

Did not think they existed, but now I know. WOW all I can say.

PS when I was younger, I put my tongue on a cold frozen flag pole, whom can I sue??? Flag manufactures have know for years that kids do that kind of thing, so the poles should have been made of material that would not hold my tongue hostage, and force me to pull the taste buds of the end to free my self, man that hurt!!!