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Originally posted by Zero 9@Oct. 07 2002, 5:58 pm
Like the old lady who sued McDonald's because she spilled hot coffee on herself...and won.
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Case in point... and I was hoping someone would bring this one up.
"little bit of knowledge"
Woman sued McDonalds for spilling coffee on herself... and won.
"lot of ignorance"
No one seems to know that she won because a) she received third degree burns because  McDonalds prior to the incident was told to reduce the temperature of their coffee - it turns out they were raising the temp to well over 150F (close to 190F, if I remember correctly) so that they could use less coffee powder -thus- save millions of dollars a year. The legal limit is 130F. Anything above it causes severe burns between 2 and 7 seconds; in her case - the third degree burns required skin grafting and eight(!) days in the hospital, and extensive rehabilitation, since she burned 16% of her body. FURTHERMORE, she asked for $20,000 (medical bills) in compensation but McDonald's REFUSED, so she went to court, and the rest is history.
Essentially, she won only because McDonalds was still pursuing an illegal practice, not because she is simply a klutz. AND, that year 700+ people suffered similar injuries.
Now, to address more ignorance:
The way laws can be challenged is if a case comes before the court to challenge that law. Otherwise it can't be challenged/changed. That's the essential function of the Supreme Court; re: Dred Scott. SO, if the Supreme Court doesn't take a case (on appeal, generally) then whatever the lower courts decide, that becomes law.
For instance, Forrester vs. Torricelli (I'm not sure what the case's title really is) where Forrester lost in the NJ Supreme Ct. and the U.S. Supreme Ct. decided not to review the case - setting the precedent and unwritten law that if a candidate is losing in an election, that candidate can be replaced with another candidate. I don't like the idea, it's very concept attacks the structure of the American Political System, but it stands. I chose this case because it happened just a couple days ago, so read all about it.
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Ignorance is contagious. Stop spreading it.
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I just wanted to add that there are several more details that I didn't put in regarding that one particular case - i.e. McDonald's was aware that the coffee, when served, as quoted in the case is 'unfit to drink' due to high temperatures, but also 'had no plans to change it'; do some research - there was a reason why she won $3 million. |
