Everybody knows about the ridiculous McDonald's hot coffee lawsuit where a lady who spilled coffee on her lap got millions out of McDonald's in damages for a frivolous lawsuit — and everyone is wrong. As we've previously reported, Stella Liebeck sued McDonald's after sustaining permanently disfiguring third-degree burns to her genitals and thighs because McDonald's had served its coffee at unsafe temperatures, something that had been going on for years and had severely burned 700 other people — and she didn't get millions, she just got enough to cover her medical expenses.
But "everyone knows" about the McDonald's suit, it's a case of civil courts gone mad, and the poster child for making it harder to sue big corporations. The Adam Ruins Everything segment on the case is a must-watch. The reason everyone knows this is that big corporations have spent years promulgating misinformation about the suit as part of a "tort reform" agenda that seeks to allow the wealthiest corporations in America to maim and cheat their customers without fear of legal penalties.
(via Kottke)
