Who should be the next president?

[Jim H]

I've always hated McDonald's for giving that lady money for spilling hot coffee on herself in a drive-thru. Because the coffee didn't say HOT. There are way-way too many people trying abuse the system with stupid lawsuits.

You hate McDonald's for losing a lawsuit?  They didn't settle. What should they have done?

[kakihara]

They should have given her another coffee, and told her "carefull ma'am, coffee is hot. Maybe you shouldnt put this between your legs while wearing booty shorts."

[Rev. Powell]

I'm all for tort reform but the McDonald's coffee case is a bad example. It's a case lots of people study on day 1 of tort class.

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

McDonalds had hundreds of claims for burns from their coffee and they always paid the claimants off. It was just a small cost of doing business to them. The plaintiff (who had third degree burns and had to get skin grafts) offered to settle for little more than the cost of her medical bills and McDonalds refused, rolling the dice that they could get the case before a jury and get a precedent that allowed them not to pay off any coffee injuries in the future. The strategy backfired and they got burned (pun intended).

McDonalds since lowered the temperature of their coffee from 185 degrees to 158 degrees, no one gets scalded anymore, and no one complains that the coffee isn't hot enough.

It's ironic that this case became the go-to example of frivolous lawsuits because it actually had merit. There are plenty of better examples to pick from.

[Allhallowsday]

Quite possibly a fake news story.  There are many of them out there!

It's not fake, but it's a lawsuit, not a criminal charge.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/12/donald-trump-jeffrey-epstein-alleged-rape-lawsuit?client=ms-android-verizon

I utterly detest Trump, but this sounds like a frivolous suit brought on by someone who's filed several of them, fishing for an out-of-court settlement.

I posted this news a while back with a link to the court filing. I agree: I hate Trump, but this lawsuit does not appear to have a lot of credibility, which is why it's not getting a lot of coverage. The fact that so many people haven't heard of this undermines Trump's "MSM" conspiracy theory, though.

That's a good point.  Ironically, I have felt that the MSM have been trying desperately to prove their lack of favoritism toward Hillary...    I think Trump has gotten a free pass more than once. 

[Skull]

I'm all for tort reform but the McDonald's coffee case is a bad example. It's a case lots of people study on day 1 of tort class.

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

McDonalds had hundreds of claims for burns from their coffee and they always paid the claimants off. It was just a small cost of doing business to them. The plaintiff (who had third degree burns and had to get skin grafts) offered to settle for little more than the cost of her medical bills and McDonalds refused, rolling the dice that they could get the case before a jury and get a precedent that allowed them not to pay off any coffee injuries in the future. The strategy backfired and they got burned (pun intended).

McDonalds since lowered the temperature of their coffee from 185 degrees to 158 degrees, no one gets scalded anymore, and no one complains that the coffee isn't hot enough.

It's ironic that this case became the go-to example of frivolous lawsuits because it actually had merit. There are plenty of better examples to pick from.

It's a stupid lawsuit that opened the door for more stupid lawsuits.

Anyway, I was wondering how long it would take before the thread comes back alive.

[Rev. Powell]

I'm all for tort reform but the McDonald's coffee case is a bad example. It's a case lots of people study on day 1 of tort class.

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

McDonalds had hundreds of claims for burns from their coffee and they always paid the claimants off. It was just a small cost of doing business to them. The plaintiff (who had third degree burns and had to get skin grafts) offered to settle for little more than the cost of her medical bills and McDonalds refused, rolling the dice that they could get the case before a jury and get a precedent that allowed them not to pay off any coffee injuries in the future. The strategy backfired and they got burned (pun intended).

McDonalds since lowered the temperature of their coffee from 185 degrees to 158 degrees, no one gets scalded anymore, and no one complains that the coffee isn't hot enough.

It's ironic that this case became the go-to example of frivolous lawsuits because it actually had merit. There are plenty of better examples to pick from.

It's a stupid lawsuit that opened the door for more stupid lawsuits.

Anyway, I was wondering how long it would take before the thread comes back alive.

I used to think that way, before I read the actual case. But if you had thousands of dollars in medical bills from 3rd degree burns from McDonalds coffee, and they knew this happened regularly and regularly paid medical bills for over 500 similar cases before yours, but decided NOT to pay you so they could use you as a test case, you'd be fine with that? You'd just say it was your own fault and go into debt to pay your medical bills? There were frivolous lawsuits before this case and frivolous lawsuits after it, but this actually was NOT a frivolous case. which is why it's so annoying that it became the poster child for frivolous lawsuits.

Here's a much better example: "In 1996, Florida physical therapist Paul Shimkonis sued his local nudie bar claiming whiplash from a lap dancer's large breasts. Shimkonis felt he suffered physical harm and mental anguish from the breasts, which he claimed felt like 'cement blocks' hitting him. Shimkonis sought justice in the amount of $15,000, which was denied."

[indianasmith]

Isn't it the Stella Awards that recognize the most frivolous lawsuits filed every year?

[Rev. Powell]

Isn't it the Stella Awards that recognize the most frivolous lawsuits filed every year?

Yep, but even though the guy who founded the awards thinks the case was decided wrongly, he has a page devoted to judging the facts for yourself: http://www.stellaawards.com/stella.html.

Even if you think McDonalds should have won that one it was not an unreasonable case to adjudicate, unlike, say, the 2006 winner: "Allen Ray Heckard. Even though Heckard is 3 inches shorter, 25 pounds lighter, and 8 years older than former basketball star Michael Jordan, the Portland, Oregon, man says he looks a lot like Jordan, and is often confused for him -- and thus he deserves $52 million 'for defamation and permanent injury'-- plus $364 million in 'punitive damage for emotional pain and suffering', plus the SAME amount from Nike co-founder Phil Knight, for a grand total of $832 million. He dropped the suit after Nike's lawyers chatted with him, where they presumably explained how they'd counter-sue if he pressed on."

[Skull]

Yep, but even though the guy who founded the awards thinks the case was decided wrongly, he has a page devoted to judging the facts for yourself: http://www.stellaawards.com/stella.html.

Even if you think McDonalds should have won that one it was not an unreasonable case to adjudicate, unlike, say, the 2006 winner: "Allen Ray Heckard. Even though Heckard is 3 inches shorter, 25 pounds lighter, and 8 years older than former basketball star Michael Jordan, the Portland, Oregon, man says he looks a lot like Jordan, and is often confused for him -- and thus he deserves $52 million 'for defamation and permanent injury'-- plus $364 million in 'punitive damage for emotional pain and suffering', plus the SAME amount from Nike co-founder Phil Knight, for a grand total of $832 million. He dropped the suit after Nike's lawyers chatted with him, where they presumably explained how they'd counter-sue if he pressed on."

I really believe people should face jail time for stupid case filings... To me this is almost as worse as cranking calling 911. If Allen Ray Heckard knew he could go to jail for this lawsuit, it would never be filed.

[Allhallowsday]

Talking backpedaling talk talk talking words werdz wurst virst first word word up.   

[Skull]

[Allhallowsday]

 



 

[bob]

[AoTFan]

Heard about that on a radio talk show.  Unless they're a different pair of kids (which possible) those two are bro and sis.  I heard they got a LOT of candy.  (One guy said he dumped the whole bowl into their bags.) 

Ahhhh... I miss trick or treating.   

Yeah, I know, I can just go BUY whatever and how much candy I want anytime from the store, but what's the fun in that?

[Allhallowsday]