Hot Coffee In 1992, 79-year old Stella
Liebeck of Albuquerque, New Mexico, had hot coffee spilled all over her. You might have probably
heard the famous story before and maybe even have some preconceived judgments on what happened.
The anecdote we've all heard claims that the woman bought the coffee
in a McDonald's drive-thru and proceeded to spill it all over herself while she was
driving out of the parking lot. It seems kind of silly to blame that on McDonald's, right?
She was the one trying to multitask while operating a moving vehicle. Besides,
it was coffee—it's supposed to be hot! The drive-thru employee didn't dump the
cup right on her lap. She did it to herself, so the lawsuit is just a bunch of nonsense.
Passenger Space That's the version of
the story you may have heard. The facts have been twisted and, in some cases, completely
overlooked and shield McDonald’s from any of the blame associated with this unfortunate accident.
McDonald's deserves some of the blame for what happened,
and that becomes clear when you hear the facts of the case. Stella was not
driving away when the coffee spilled in her lap. She wasn't even driving the car,
to begin with. She was the passenger, and the car was stopped in a parking space.
She had removed the lid to add cream and sugar, but the cup tipped over,
and searing hot coffee cascaded into her lap. The scorching liquid soaked through the sweatpants
she was wearing. Hospital Stay
The injuries that resulted were extensive. Stella suffered third-degree burns to her thighs and
groin, the most severe burns a person can get. 6% of her skin had been burned to the third degree,
and 16% more was burned to a lesser extent. Why in the world did McDonald's make her cup of coffee so
dangerously hot? It's an important question, one that Stella would soon pursue in court. But
her first point of concern was seeking medical help for her various wounds.
She stayed in the hospital for a total of 8 days while doctors tended to her injuries.
On top of the hospital bills that piled up over those eight days, Stella underwent in-home
treatment for three weeks after her release. Her daughter took care of that, but even
with the considerable nursing she received, she never fully recovered from the nasty burns. She
was permanently disfigured and remained partially disabled for another two years after the incident.
$800
Living in the hospital for more than a week is an expensive thing to do. Stella's medical bills
totaled $10,500. What's more, she would have to pay an additional $2,500 for future treatments,
and her daughter had lost something in the realm of $5,000 by taking off work to look
after her ailing mother. Tallying up all their various expenses, Stella asked McDonald's for
$20,000 in settlement funds. That seems pretty reasonable, right? The fast-food juggernaut
countered her request, instead offering her a measly $800 for her troubles. To put that into
perspective, that's about a two years' supply of coffee, given the average American coffee drinker
consumes roughly 3 cups a day and the cup she bought from McDonald's cost 49 cents at the time.
So they refused to fit the bill for her costly hospital bills, bills she only got in the first
place because one of their stores gave her a cup of coffee that was far beyond its boiling point.
No Settlement
After McDonald's' insulting settlement offer, Stella lawyered up, opting to sue
the multi-billion dollar company for damages. With the help of Texas Attorney Reed Morgan,
the lawsuit accused "gross negligence" on the part of the McDonald's that sold her that cup of
fire and the corporation as a whole for keeping their coffee at such extreme temperatures.
Stella and her lawyer offered to settle with McDonald's rather than trudge through a long
and arduous trial. The company refused their pre-trial offer of
$300,000. Just before the court proceedings began, an independent mediator proposed a
$225,000 agreement. But yet again, Mickey D's wouldn't budge,
so the trial of Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants commenced on August 8, 1994.
Both sides fired all their ammunition at one another throughout the grueling ten-day trial.
One of the most eye-opening revelations in court was discovering that McDonald's requires its
franchisees to keep their coffee at temperatures between 180 and 190 degrees Fahrenheit. That's
hot enough to cause third-degree burns, like the ones Stella suffered, in just 3 seconds.
Judgment
After all the evidence was reviewed and each side made their final arguments,
the civil jury attached to the case ultimately ruled in Stella's favor. They awarded her
roughly $3 million in punitive damages. That's a whole lot more than the $20,000
she originally asked for. While Stella thought she might walk out of the courtroom a millionaire,
the judge reduced her reward to $640,000, which is still nothing to sneeze at.
Both sides ended up appealing the judge's decision,
McDonald's thinking the amount was far too much, and Stella's lawyers wanting
more. The two sides ended up settling out of court for an undisclosed amount.
Still, that original $3 million figure certainly got people's attention,
and it wasn't long before the media spin began.
Media Frenzy
The first mention of Stella's case in the press was a 700-word article in The Albuquerque Journal
detailing the events leading up to and during the high-profile trial. Soon after,
the Associated Press caught wind of the story and released their own 350-word piece.
The AP coverage helped news of Stella's situation spread around the globe, with dozens and dozens
of newspapers from all over the world releasing their take on the McDonald's coffee trial. Some
of those international blurbs were as little as 50 words in length. Are you sensing a pattern here?
The more exposure Stella's story got in the media, the shorter the news clippings became.
Important details were left out in favor of grabby headlines, portraying her as a greedy opportunist
who swindled McDonald's out of millions over something that wasn't even the restaurant's fault.
The media buried Stella when they said she was the one driving the car.
Several news outlets, including major national networks, asserted that she had the cup between
her legs as she was driving, and that's the reason it tipped over. As we already discussed,
that's not what happened, not even close. But, that didn't stop the press from running with
that version of the narrative—a version that made Stella Liebeck the bad guy
and McDonald's the innocent victim. Stella even received angry letters in the mail.
Pop Culture
It seemed like the whole world was giving Stella grief. Late-night TV
hosts and A-list comedians lined up to take their swings at the poor old woman.
She was the butt of jokes made by Jay Leno, Craig Ferguson, and radio hosts around the
country. Her story even got written into the most popular television show of the '90s, Seinfeld.
An episode of the sitcom depicts the character of Kramer pursuing a similar lawsuit after he
spills coffee on himself at the movies. It's an obvious jab at Stella's case,
and it was broadcast into millions of living rooms across the US. People dug their heels deeper
into the anti-Stella narrative since Seinfeld was the leading authority on all things 90s.
McDonald's and Politics
Stella's story proved to be the driving force behind two major
bills introduced by Congress in the mid-90s. These bills,
known as the Common Sense Legal Reforms Act and the Common Sense Product Liability
Legal Reforms Act, both aimed at what lawmakers described as "frivolous litigation."
Essentially, these bills prevented people from suing major corporations
if common sense could have prevented the injury. For example, if you hurt yourself
while riding on top of your BMW like a surfboard, you can't turn around and
sue BMW—just like how you can't sue McDonald's for your coffee being too hot.
The bills were implemented as part of the Republican Party's Contract with
America. Written by Congressman Newt Gingrich, the Contract was a series of
legislative proposals that represented the agenda of the Republicans heading into the
congressional election of 1994. With bloated corporations like McDonald's backing the laws
wholeheartedly, they eventually passed in both the House of Representatives and
the Senate. Then-President Bill Clinton ultimately vetoed them.
Still, it's crazy to think that a cup of scalding McDonald's coffee in Albuquerque
made waves in the chambers of the United States Congress.
Aftermath
Stella essentially became a national laughingstock,
mocked by everyone from celebrities to your everyday American, many of whom
were misinformed by a news media machine that neglected to portray the whole truth.
The rest of the world thought her situation was a joke. For Stella and her family,
it was a nightmare. Most of the money she received in the settlement went towards a live-in nurse to
take care of her in the final stage of her life. She would live an additional 12 years after the
incident, passing away at the age of 91, her skin still badly scarred, along with her reputation.
In recent years, a handful of media outlets have conducted a fresh examination of Stella's
situation, aiming to portray her in a more positive light than she had been
previously. In 2013, The New York Times released a 12-minute "Retro Report" video
that communicated the truth of what actually happened. The video, accompanied by an article,
described how massive corporations can influence the news media to twist the narrative in their
favor and how Stella's story is perhaps the most pressing example of that in recent history.
HBO also released a documentary called "Hot Coffee," which took a close look at Stella's
trial and attempted to convey that she was ultimately the victim in the situation,
not McDonald's. We can only hope people continue to look into the story for themselves,
getting a more holistic picture of the events rather than buying into
the lazy - and wrong - media narrative that has endured for so many years.
Click to watch one of these next videos!