6/5/2023 0 Comments Stella liebeck burns![]() ![]() JUDY ALLEN: They just said it’s statistically insignificant, and we’re not going to change what we do. NARRATION: An expert for McDonald’s testified that burns are exceedingly rare – one for every 24 million cups of coffee served. We argued that to the jury, that they were callous and indifferent in simply not turning down the temperature. KEN WAGNER: McDonald’s was on big-time notice that they had a product that was dangerous and it was burning people. Lawyers produced documents that showed that between 19, nearly 700 people claimed that they had been burned by hot coffee at McDonalds. A burn expert testified that liquid at 180 degrees could cause third degree burns within fifteen seconds. NARRATION: McDonald’s policy was to serve coffee between 180 and 190 degrees. STELLA LIEBECK: I was not in it for the money, I was in it because I wanted them to bring the temperature down so that other people would not go through the same thing I did. KEN WAGNER (ATTORNEY FOR STELLA LIEBECK): We bought a product, it was used as intended, it was unreasonably hot and, therefore, unreasonably dangerous, and those were the essential facts. ![]() Before they went to trial, they tried twice to settle out of court, but McDonald’s refused. NARRATION: Stella Liebeck had never sued anyone before Albuquerque attorney Ken Wagner took her case. So, we wrote a letter to McDonald’s asking them to check the temperature of the coffee and to give recompense for the medical bills, and the response from McDonald’s was an offer of $800. JUDY ALLEN: We couldn’t believe that this could happen over spilling the coffee. So Stella reached out to McDonald’s and asked to be reimbursed. JUDY ALLEN: She was burned over 16% of her body, 6% of the burns were third degree. ![]() NARRATION: The severity of the burns caused Stella Liebeck to go into shock, and her grandson immediately took her to the emergency room. I screamed not realizing I was burned that bad. STELLA LIEBECK: All I remember is trying to get out of the car. She put it between her knees and lifted the lid off, and in the process of doing that, spilled the coffee and all of the hot liquid went into the sweat suit that she was wearing and pooled in the seat.ĪRCHIVAL (NBC NEWS, DATELINE, APRIL, 1995): JUDY ALLEN (STELLA LIEBECK’S DAUGHTER): The day that the burns happened, my mother and my nephew went through the drive-thru at McDonald’s and got breakfast and coffee and they pulled into the parking lot, and in the Ford Probe there’s slanted surfaces everywhere, there’s no place to put the coffee. She had recently quit her job as a department store clerk and moved to Albuquerque to be near her daughter. NARRATION: Stella Liebeck was a 79-year-old widow sitting in the passenger seat of a parked car when she was burned on February 27th, 1992. But of course, the facts are much more complicated than that. She bought the coffee, she spilled it on herself and now, look, she’s a millionaire. JOHN LLEWELLYN (ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF COMMUNICATIONS, WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY): The public perception of it is, Stella Liebeck won a lottery. JANE PAULEY: An 81- year old woman has been awarded $2.9 million after she sued McDonald’s, claiming their coffee was too hot. ![]()
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