Did you know that a cup of coffee could spark a major lawsuit? Let me tell you about the famous Liebeck v. McDonald's case!” In 1992, Stella Liebeck, a 79-year old woman sued McDonalds after she was severely burned by its coffee. She sued McDonald’s for $20,000 after she was hospitalised for eight days for her third-degree burns. Experts testified that McDonald's served scalding hot coffee that can cause third-degree burns in seconds. In fact, knew its coffee was causing serious burns, but it decided that, with billions of cups served annually, this number of burns was not significant. Yikes!
Guess what? In the end, the jury decided to give Liebeck a whopping $160,000 in compensatory damages for her pain, suffering, and medical costs. The Liebeck v. McDonald's case had left several significant impact, such as the importance for manufacturers to provide clear warnings about potential dangers associated with their products, and prompted businesses to reevaluate their practices and consider customer safety as a priority.
