Watch the documentary, "Hot Coffee". It tells the story. The compensatory (?) went from $200K down to $160K. Punitive amount went from $2.7 or 2.9 mil down to about $480K. The numbers may be off, that's what I found. But the documentary was good and explains it.

Her doctor said it was the worst burn case he’d ever seen. The coffee was at 190° F/ 88° C, just below boiling. And the whole “people can sue for anything” thing is a myth. Most of the time, the news picks up a story that some people want to sue for something ridiculous, but leave out that either no lawyer would take the case or the judge threw it out.

The employees in question ignored clear warnings signs on the machine about maximum safe temperature.

This happened to me some time ago! Got a hot tea and spilled some on my leg and got severe 2nd degree burns. It hurt like hell but at least the place agreed to pay the medical bills

Ye gods, so many comments from people absolutely determined to not look up any details of the case and blame Liebeck. I'll just say this: Coffee that causes third-degree burns to your skin is too hot to drink. There's a huge range of temperature between "destroys human flesh" and "lukewarm." And the high punitive damages were initially awarded by the jury because of the abhorrent behavior of the lawyers representing Mickey D's. The cartoonist who draws "Too Much Coffee Man," Shannon Wheeler, has a breakdown of the incident, the courtroom mess, AND the media shenanigans that followed, posted online in comic strip form. (It gets political, so be prepared to cry if the truth hurts.) Just Google "shannon wheeler coffee lawsuit" without quotes.

McDonald's was also told repeatedly by regulators their coffee was too hot, but they refused to turn it down.

watch 'adam ruin's justice' from adam's ruins everything. it's about the entire system but it has really cool thing about that and how the media was payed to redescribe the story.

So McDonalds coffee is supposed to be served lukewarm? Because I think if the temperature is below 98.6 it will feel tepid to us.

Poor woman not only had to be hospitalized the 3rd degree burns had to have skin graphs and that didn't go well either because the burns were that bad. At the same time she was having to hear the entire nation laughing about her.

I know McD's had been repeatedly warned about their excessively hot coffee, but I still think this woman's an idiot for opening it between her legs in a car. That's just stupid.

There had been many complaints before her accident that the coffee was too hot. She was the unfortunate victim that proved the point

She put a hot cup of coffee between her legs? Why?

Shame on them and good for her.

yeah, I also know about this, but when I mention it, people are "She should expected the coffee is hot, its normal, its her fault anyway, and that if she make coffee at home, its hot too." I even showed them a video of me making a coffee at home, and those machines actually don't making boiled hot coffee, It already have 80-85 celsium, because the water loosing its tempature by going through, but their machines is so strong that there is no heat loss before. I actually also bring an thermometer into the coffee shop (they argued, that in every coffee shop its normal to have boiled hot coffee) neither of the freshly brewed coffee in our famous cafeteria have higher tempature than 85. Yes it will still probably burnd her now, but not a 3rd-degree burns.... and she even admitted it was her fault for holding that cup with her legs.

And had to get skin grafts, wasn't even driving at the time, and McDonald's had previously been warned countless times about their coffee being served too hot, it was something like 190°

I have already read this as a slightly older child and had been very happy for the woman that she had received more than she originally wanted as compensation for the 3grad Burning, and that the insurance of the fast foot restaurant / employee insurance had to pay for the treatment, instead of her health insurance. I only read years later that she also had to bear the remaining costs of the court case even though she had won and the treatment, and for that the money would hardly be enough in my country it is so that the loser side has to pay the costs of the court and that someone had to pay medical treatments themselves was for me at really out of my world. USA was somehow something cool where you wanted to go at some point and I just thought that the differences are school, political system, the children are picked up at home by the bus, the cities look different, and it is an immigration country and therefore the culture is very diverse. Other differences I didn't know as a child

Disgusting corporation, glad I haven't eaten that plastic chemical dogshit that they call food for years. Poor woman, she is a lovely person apparently.

I don't understand. All coffee and tea I know is made with boiled water. The kettle is switched off when it boils. Water boils at 100°C or 212°F. Why is everybody complaining about "hot" coffee?

But she still sued McDonalds...because her coffee was hot... hence how she got the 3rd degree burns....

These were not "3rd degree burns": From Web MD: Third-degree. Sometimes called a “full thickness burn,” this type of injury destroys two full layers of your skin. Instead of turning red, it may appear black, brown, white or yellow. It won’t hurt because this type of burn damages nerve endings.

I assume this was not her first cup of McDonald's coffee, so would have been well aware of its temperature. Why did she have a cup of coffee between her legs to remove the cap? Was she driving? If so that's illegal where I live and she could be charged by the police; certainly doing something illegal at the time would have severely limited the awarded amount, if not reduced them to zero. Has anyone conducted any research to find out what temperature coffee does not cause burns - unacceptably cool I suspect.

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This is why I can't get a hot cup of coffee anymore. Lukewarm sucks.

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But if you check the medical bill it does contain a 12 bedroom house, a Rolls-Royce and a 6 berth yacht