An Atlanta Injury Attorney explains one of the most famous personal injury cases with Stella Liebeck vs. McDonalds.

Stella Liebeck of Albuquerque, New Mexico a passenger in her grandson’s car ordered a McDonald’s coffee in February 1992, which severely burned her after the coffee spilled on her lap, giving her third degree burns to her thighs, buttocks genital and groin area.

Contrary to what McDonald’s wants you to believe the car was not in motion and Stella Liebeck was not the driver of the vehicle when the injury occurred. She was attempting to open the lid from the styrofoam cup when the coffee spilled all over her giving her third degree burns, that required an 8 day stay at the hospital and skin grafting by surgeons.

Initially Stella Liebeck was hoping to settle the case with McDonalds for $20,000 plus medical expenses but McDonald’s refused. This was a serious mistake on the part of McDonalds, as the trial proved that McDonald was fully aware of the detrimental consequences that serving coffee at 185 degrees can cause.

During the discovery Mrs. Liebeck’s lawyers revealed:

• McDonalds intentionally keeps its coffee around 185 degrees to maintain optimal taste knowing that could cause burn injuries if the coffee came in contact with the skin. Other establishments keep their coffee at significantly lower temperatures around 140 degrees.
• An expert witness for Mrs. Liebeck testified that liquids at 180 degrees will cause third degree burns in 2 to 7 seconds.
• McDonald’s quality assurance manager at the trial testified that any food being served above 140 degrees could cause burns, he also admitted that drinking the coffee from the styrofoam cup at 180 degrees would cause injuries to the throat and mouth.
• McDonald’s testified that people buy coffee on their way to and from work and not to drink it immediately although their research stated otherwise.
• McDonald’s also testified that consumers wanted their coffees hot but they were unaware that at temperatures that McDonald’s offered their coffees it could cause burns.
• McDonald’s was aware of over 700 complaints involving people who have burned by their coffee and some with third degree burns similar to Mrs. Liebeck and didn’t do anything about it.
• There were previous request by other organizations to ask McDonald’s to lower the temperature of its coffees.

Based on the discovery it was determined that McDonalds was fully aware of the injuries that their coffee would cause but neglected to do anything about it because their company policy was to maintain the optimal taste of their coffee regardless of the injuries it would cause.

As a result of the discoveries Mrs. Liebeck was awarded $480,000 for punitive damages and $160,000 for compensatory damages. Initially Mrs. Liebeck was awarded $2.7 million in punitive damages which was reduced to $480,000 and her compensatory damages was reduced from $200,000 to $160,000.

After the trial McDonald’s reduced its coffee from 180 degrees Fahrenheit to 158 degrees Fahrenheit

After the discovery the Judge proclaimed McDonald’s conduct to be reckless, willful and callous.

The final amounts awarded in the case will never be revealed because both parties decided to enter into a secret settlement which McDonald’s forbid the settlement amounts to be public.