Liebeck v. McDonald’s Parties Involved Liebeck v. McDonald’s Restaurants The Incident Stella Liebeck was a 79 year old woman in New Mexico’s Albuquerque. She purchased a cup of coffee at a McDonald’s drive-in restaurant. She placed the coffee between her legs as she sat on the passenger seat. This occurred in 1992. Upon opening it, the coffee spilled over her lower body where she suffered third-degree burns on parts of her body. It is important to recognize the fact that it is the grandson who was operating the vehicle. By opening the coffee, she intended to put cream in her coffee and that is when all of it spilled. The hot content was absorbed by her sweatpants which caused scalds over her thighs, groin and buttocks. She was hospitalized …show more content…
Liebeck was seeking compensation for her medical bills for which she requested a settlement of US$20,000 to cater for the medical costs. She approached McDonald’s for that amount but they declined offering only US$800. As a consequence, Ms. Liebeck acquired the services of a personal injury attorney who proceeded to file a gross negligence suit against McDonald’s. Before proceeding to trial, the attorney offered McDonald’s settlements of US$90,000 followed by another of US$300,000 but they declined. The gross negligence suit addressed a legal issue which was whether McDonald was responsible for the claimant’s injuries or …show more content…
Actually, the case ended up on comical television shows. As a consequence, some of the facts were misinterpreted with some reporting that Liebeck was driving while she spilled the coffee. There were also claims that McDonald’s did not pour the coffee on her legs. Others even questioned, is coffee not sold when hot? (Burtka, 2018). To most it appears that the old woman intention was to make money out of the injury. All these views were wrong and may be the media and the people who judged her wrongly had not looked at the facts