Overlawyered » Stella Liebeck http://overlawyered.com Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:11:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 “Hot Coffee” documentary (HBO) reviewed http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/hot-coffee-documentary-hbo-reviewed/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/hot-coffee-documentary-hbo-reviewed/#comments Mon, 27 Jun 2011 13:56:40 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=23587 Great review by Miami Herald TV critic Glenn Garvin casting a skeptical eye on the trial-lawyer film project (”done in by its essential dishonesty… like any good lawyer — and unlike any good documentarian — [director Susan Saladoff is] intent on concealing the weakness in her case).” Read it here. Meanwhile, from the “How does this sort of thing get past the editors of the Washington Post?” files, there’s this from Hank Stuever:

For to really embrace tort reform, you have to be willing to treat all potential plaintiffs as no-good grifters. … To support tort reform, you have to believe all lawsuits against businesses are a threat to the free market.

Stuever does not, for some reason, name any proponent of reform who has actually asserted either of the propositions. Do you think that might be because he’s trafficking in absurd caricatures? (earlier on “Hot Coffee” here, here, here, etc.)

P.S. More: Cory Andrews, WLF. And if lawyers are really eager to have the facts of the Liebeck v. McDonald’s case come out, it’s curious they don’t take steps to release the trial transcript, in the absence of which critics of the case are obliged to speculate on key points. And as I just wrote in a comment at Abnormal Use:

I believe organized tort reform groups were caught flat-footed by the McDonald’s case and didn’t get around to doing much with it until it had already become the talk of the nation through talk shows, late night TV and so forth. As often happens, plaintiff’s-side advocacy groups were more aggressive in seeking coverage for their side in the media. Thus Public Citizen and allies gave a press conference on Capitol Hill and were rewarded with a big Newsweek story summarizing their talking points (as well as, earlier, coverage in the news-side WSJ). I’m pretty sure no groups critical of the Liebeck award ever did a comparable press push; and the McDonald’s company itself, so far as I know, never chose to cooperate with commentators who might be sympathetic to its legal case.

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/hot-coffee-documentary-hbo-reviewed/feed/ 24 February 13 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2011/02/february-13-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/02/february-13-roundup/#comments Sun, 13 Feb 2011 14:15:25 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=21459
  • Rules for Growth: Promoting Innovation and Growth Through Legal Reform is new book from Kauffman Foundation in which “formidable” contributors including Henry Butler, George Priest, and Peter Schuck prescribe pro-growth policy changes across a variety of fields [available at Kauffman or on SSRN via contributor Larry Ribstein, Diana Furchtgott-Roth/Real Clear Markets]
  • Nick Farr is awfully apologetic (not really) for saying those mean things about Hot Coffee, the new documentary film presenting Lawsuit Lobby view of the world [Abnormal Use, earlier] Related: TBD, more. More: Bob Dorigo Jones.
  • AEP v. Connecticut global warming case invites courts to supplant other branches’ role [Ilya Shapiro, Cato]
  • Washington jury awards $46 million to victim of shooting spree at Denny’s who charged negligent security [Kent Reporter, KOMO, Seattle Times, earlier]
  • New bipartisan Congressional Civil Justice Caucus forms on Capitol Hill [BLT, PoL]
  • Oh, Professor Tribe, your rhetorical moves on the Supreme Court and Obamacare are so transparent [Ann Althouse] (& Ilya Shapiro letter in NY Times)
  • DRI says “if you [defend] Med Mal cases the news isn’t good,” new filings show a drop; clients may take different view [For the Defense] James Pinkerton on med-mal reform [Serious Medicine Strategy] Jan. 20 medical liability hearing in the House [PoL]
  • Jury: “customer of size” not victim of airline bias [five years ago on Overlawyered]
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/02/february-13-roundup/feed/ 0     Susan Saladoff documentary “Hot Coffee” at Sundance http://overlawyered.com/2011/01/susan-saladoff-documentary-hot-coffee-at-sundance/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/01/susan-saladoff-documentary-hot-coffee-at-sundance/#comments Mon, 24 Jan 2011 17:15:09 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=21131 At Abnormal Use, Nick Farr brings some scrutiny to what’s looking like the big trial-bar media venture of the season.

    P.S. And a follow-up that really stands on its own as a resource: “The Stella Liebeck McDonald’s Hot Coffee Case FAQ“

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2011/01/susan-saladoff-documentary-hot-coffee-at-sundance/feed/ 7     Gerald Colbert v. Sonic Restaurants http://overlawyered.com/2010/10/gerald-colbert-v-sonic-restaurants/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/10/gerald-colbert-v-sonic-restaurants/#comments Tue, 19 Oct 2010 11:48:39 +0000 Ted Frank http://overlawyered.com/?p=19771 As a connoisseur of hot-coffee cases, I’m always excited to see a court get one right. The Abnormal Use blog points us to Colbert v. Sonic Restaurants, No. 09-1423, 2010 WL 3769131 (W.D. La. Sept. 21, 2010). The plaintiff made the usual gamut of “design defect” and “failure to warn” claims, but the court wasn’t buying it. Note that the plaintiff claimed to be injured by the coffee at Sonic Restaurants, yet another refutation of the trial-lawyer claim that Stella Liebeck’s McDonald’s coffee was unusually hot.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2010/10/gerald-colbert-v-sonic-restaurants/feed/ 14     “Hot coffee is back!” http://overlawyered.com/2009/09/hot-coffee-is-back/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/09/hot-coffee-is-back/#comments Fri, 04 Sep 2009 04:31:48 +0000 Ted Frank http://overlawyered.com/?p=13482 In an op-ed in the Examiner last week, I express curiosity why the trial bar continues to insist that the infamous McDonald’s coffee case came out correctly decided, to the point that trial lawyer blogs express excitement that a documentary is going to be made about the subject. Of course, if the movie just parrots the urban legends trial lawyers have spread about the case, that would be something else—the fact that the filmmaker was fundraising at the AAJ convention but hasn’t shown her face around any of the tort reform conventions suggests a certain direction about the film.

    Speaking of McDonald’s, I’ll be in the Bay Area next week at a couple of law schools giving a presentation called “The Law of McDonald’s: Hot Coffee, Obesity, and Prank Phone Calls” : Golden Gate University Law School on September 10, and UC-Davis on September 11. I’ll also be at UC-Berkeley Law on September 8, and Santa Clara University Law on September 9 talking more generally about tort reform and patent reform specifically.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2009/09/hot-coffee-is-back/feed/ 13     Update: Alice Griffin v. Starbucks http://overlawyered.com/2008/06/update-alice-griffin-v-starbucks/ http://overlawyered.com/2008/06/update-alice-griffin-v-starbucks/#comments Sat, 07 Jun 2008 15:37:09 +0000 Ted Frank http://overlawyered.com/?p=7118 Updating our August 2006 post on Alice Griffin v. Starbucks: Griffin alleged that a Starbucks barista spilled hot coffee–195 to 205 degrees–on her, causing second-degree burns on her foot and permanent nerve damage when it scalded her through her pantyhose. A jury agreed and awarded $301,000. The court reduced the award to $201,000, and both sides appealed. On appeal, the New York Appellate Division reduced damages further to $76,000. (Griffin v. Starbucks Corp. (N.Y.A.D. Jun. 5, 2008); Matthew Nestel and Dareh Gregorian, “Gal’s Star’Bucks’ Cut”, NY Post, Jun. 7). New York has tort reform giving judges extra discretion to reduce damages through remittitur.

    Compare and contrast to Stella Liebeck and the McDonald’s coffee case.

    • Contrary to the urban legend spread by the litigation lobby that the 185-degree McDonald’s coffee was unusually hot, justifying punitive damages, Starbucks actually serves coffee hotter than McDonald’s does.
    • Stella Liebeck spilled coffee on herself, and argued she should recover because McDonald’s sold a defective product and failed to warn her that coffee was hot. (Liebeck argued that no beverage should be served over 130 degrees.) Ms. Griffin did not argue that Starbucks made a bad product, but, rather, that Starbucks spilled coffee on her. If the allegation was true, it is not a frivolous case.
    • Note also that damages are within the realm of reason.
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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2008/06/update-alice-griffin-v-starbucks/feed/ 0     Overlawyering making America a laughingstock http://overlawyered.com/2008/05/overlawyering-making-america-a-laughingstock/ http://overlawyered.com/2008/05/overlawyering-making-america-a-laughingstock/#comments Sat, 17 May 2008 02:11:55 +0000 Ted Frank http://overlawyered.com/?p=6887 Pulitzer-prize winning columnist Leonard Pitts Jr.:

    Anna from Estonia mak[es] it a point to show visiting friends a sight they could never see in the old country. They laugh, they point, they whip out cameras and take pictures. Of the Everglades? No. Of Mount Rushmore or Lady Liberty? No.

    Anna said they take pictures of the idiot signs. These she said, crack her friends up. “Caution: Coffee is hot.” Apparently, elsewhere in the world, you don’t need a sign to know this.

    More on the deservedly infamous McDonald’s coffee case. Similar discussion: March 2.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2008/05/overlawyering-making-america-a-laughingstock/feed/ 0     Two more hot coffee lawsuit data points http://overlawyered.com/2006/11/two-more-hot-coffee-lawsuit-data-points/ http://overlawyered.com/2006/11/two-more-hot-coffee-lawsuit-data-points/#comments Thu, 02 Nov 2006 10:31:12 +0000 Ted Frank http://overlawyered.com/wpblog/?p=4133 Add the Stony Brook University Hospital cafeteria to the list of servers unsuccessfully sued over burns caused by hot coffee. If you recall, the theory of the McDonald’s coffee case (and repeated by such trial lawyer defenders as congressional candidate Bruce Braley) was that McDonald’s, and only McDonald’s, served coffee so hot as to burn. For some reason, the reporter for the New York Law Journal tries to leave the reader with the impression that the original Stella Liebeck case was justifiable (though that opinion is irrelevant to the article itself) which shows how successful trial lawyer propaganda has been within the legal community and press. (John Caher, “N.Y. Judge Cool to Injury Claims Over Spilled Coffee”, New York Law Journal, Nov. 2). We earlier listed other hot coffee lawsuit defendants.

    Speaking of which, you may recall the Russian McDonald’s coffee case litigation that we covered a year ago, with identical allegations from a woman who spilled coffee on herself; the press is reporting that the plaintiff has dropped her case. As in the Stella Liebeck case, the Russian McDonald’s had a warning on the coffee cup that the contents were hot. (”Moscow McDonald’s coffee-spill case closed”, RIA Novosti, 1 Nov.).

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2006/11/two-more-hot-coffee-lawsuit-data-points/feed/ 3     Latest hot coffee lawsuit data points http://overlawyered.com/2006/10/latest-hot-coffee-lawsuit-data-points/ http://overlawyered.com/2006/10/latest-hot-coffee-lawsuit-data-points/#comments Sat, 28 Oct 2006 06:55:31 +0000 Ted Frank http://overlawyered.com/wpblog/?p=4116 Remember that the reason anti-reformers justify Stella Liebeck’s infamous hot coffee lawsuit against McDonald’s is because McDonald’s was allegedly the only one selling coffee hot enough to burn? The family of a Dallas Cowboys coach has hired an attorney to sue McDonald’s over allegedly tainted food. Here’s how Jeff Carlton of the AP describes him:

    Cecil W. Casterline, the Haley’s lawyer, has previously sued Whataburger and Wendy’s on behalf of clients allegedly scalded by coffee.

    Earlier: Starbucks; Burger King; Dunkin’ Donuts; Starbucks; Starbucks; an Indiana gas station and coffeemaker manufacturer; and McDonald’s again and again. (Update: also Stony Brook University Hospital cafeteria, and Starbucks again.) All hot coffee burns. That’s why even small children know not to spill it on themselves, and why most courts hold it’s not actionable when one spills hot coffee on oneself.

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    ]]>     http://overlawyered.com/2006/10/latest-hot-coffee-lawsuit-data-points/feed/ 4     British hot coffee: Bogle v. McDonald’s http://overlawyered.com/2006/09/british-hot-coffee-bogle-v-mcdonalds/ http://overlawyered.com/2006/09/british-hot-coffee-bogle-v-mcdonalds/#comments Wed, 20 Sep 2006 16:21:10 +0000 Ted Frank http://overlawyered.com/wpblog/?p=3967 If you can stand one more post about the McDonald’s coffee case, this 2002 opinion in the High Court of Justice, Queens Bench Division, is extraordinarily sensible. Most notably, coffee served at 65 C (a mere 150 degrees Fahrenheit), will cause a full-thickness burn in 2 seconds, so the court rejected the claim that McDonald’s could have avoided injury by serving not-so-hot coffee, refuting the claims regularly made by the plaintiffs’ bar that a few degrees’ difference could have avoided injury. (Bogle v. McDonald’s Restaurants Ltd., Neutral Citation [2002] EWHC 490 (QB), Case No: HQ0005713.)

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