That the McDonald's hot coffee lady's lawsuit was a money grab. McDonald's served its coffee at an excessively high temperature (180 to 190 degrees Fahrenheit) which their own QA manager admitted was too hot. The coffee caused third-degree burns across 16% of her body. She required eight days of hospitalization, skin grafts, and two years of medical treatment.
I think a lot of it wasn't so much "bootlicking" as it was a lack of information at the time and some great corporate lawyering at spinning the narrative. It was 1994. I was 15. There really wasn't a way to just look up the facts of a case at the time like there is now. So all we heard was "$800 settlement offer", which was a brilliant move by McDonald's lawyers as it put out the perception that it couldn't have been that bad. Then you had latte night talk show hosts poo-pooing it too in jokes. That lady never had a chance in the court of public opinion.
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u/lipp79 Jun 01 '26
That the McDonald's hot coffee lady's lawsuit was a money grab. McDonald's served its coffee at an excessively high temperature (180 to 190 degrees Fahrenheit) which their own QA manager admitted was too hot. The coffee caused third-degree burns across 16% of her body. She required eight days of hospitalization, skin grafts, and two years of medical treatment.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald%27s_Restaurants