Obituary of the late Mr. Common Sense

[amber]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

Even so - what kind of dumba$$ puts even regular coffee in her lap while driving And then says she did not know it would burn her and she, therefore, should have no responsibility whatsoever and it is all McDonald's fault. I mean I sorry that she got burned, but who da fool?

I think most people put their drinks between their legs in the car. Especially before ubiquitous cup holders. But part of the defense was, if the coffee was normal hot, it wouldn't have burned that bad. But they had heated it to the same temperature as the surface of the sun. If normal coffee spilled, she wouldn't have needed skin grafts. I used to think what you do until I heard the details of the case. Also, the person...mcdonald's worker...didn't put the lid on the cup properly. So you have an improper lid with coffee the temp of the surface of the sun. I think someone going through the drive through of McDonald's and putting a cup of coffee between their legs, or very near their body at some point, is a forseeable plaintiff - so McDonald's does owe a duty to that general customer.
Even if it wasn't between her legs, and she put it somewhere else, it could easily have splashed and burned her, cars are not that big. Where was she supposed to put it? No cupholder. And what if she set it between her legs for a sec while she got her food situated, etc., like many of us do when going through the drive through? Again, totally forseeable plaintiff IMO. and the jury's O. Again, cup lid not on. After that case McDonald's was required to have their coffee heated to only a normal hot temperature....