Starbucks sued for serving hot coffee

[Mill]

"Conscious indifference, willful, wanton and reckless disregard" for the consequences of serving "unreasonably dangerous coffee."

 

[OS]

lol, i was wondering lately when it was starbucks' turn

 

[2Xtreme21]

I thought "conscious indifference, willful, and wanton" were describing the woman at first.

 

[SSSnail]

Wow, McFrivolous.

Seems like someone has been browsing the forums eh? Reading the McCoffee thread and all.

 

[amish]

i'm surprised its only $50K that she is asking for

 

[KLin]

I wonder who will be the first person to sue baskin robbins for having ice cream that's too cold?

"This single scoop of rocky road caused an uncontrollable brain freeze!!! Ima gonna sue!!! :|"

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: OS
lol, i was wondering lately when it was starbucks' turn

Starbucks has been sued many times. The stupidity of people is nothing new and this is not so rare.

Every case against Starbucks has lost, though. Or was settled if the cup/lid or employee was at fault.

 

[George P Burdell]

Isn't this why there's a warning label on the coffee cup?

 

[MustISO]

They just need to start the education in our schools. Coffee, and the sun, are hot kids, be careful.

 

[sandorski]

hehe, "unreasonably dangerous", hehehe

 

[amish]

Originally posted by: KLin
I wonder who will be the first person to sue baskin robbins for having ice cream that's too cold?

"This single scoop of rocky road caused an uncontrollable brain freeze!!! Ima gonna sue!!! :|"

thats a really good frivolous idea. i'm off to the kwik-e mart to see if i can cash in on 7-11 and the simpsons.

 

[Kelemvor]

I wish people like this would get counter sued and get fined for the cost of the judge and the companies lawyers to defend such stupid things. Then maybe they'd stop and use common sense.

Unless the employee dumped it on her, it's her own fault.

 

[CraKaJaX]

wah wah wah, who the hell drinks their coffee hot anyway? 😕

 

[Ricemarine]

Originally posted by: George P Burdell
Isn't this why there's a warning label on the coffee cup?

Thought there always was one...
That's what McDonalds implemented to avoid lawsuits after the coffee incident IIRC.

 

[DainBramaged]

The phrase "damned if you do, damned if you don't" comes to mind here. That bitch should shut the fvck up and realize she is a retarded person for spilling her coffee on herself.

 

[Mo0o]

Sometimes it's not all common sense, especially since in the McDonalds lawsuit they kept it at an unreasonable temperature. There different levels of "hot" and McDonalds kept it at a temp that you wouldn't be able to drink it at anyways. The old lady that got burned by the coffee had 3rd degree burns, which basically means it burned through the skin to the muscle beneath and had to get major skin grafts. Her original request was just for medical compensation, the jury awarded her the punitive damage. I think it ended up being 400k for her or something.

http://www.vanfirm.com/mcdonalds-coffee-lawsuit.htm
http://lawandhelp.com/q298-2.htm

I dont know the details of teh Sbucks lawsuit so i can't comment but a lot of people make snap judgments about the the McDonalds case without knowing all the facts

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Mo0o
Sometimes it's not all common sense, especially since in the McDonalds lawsuit they kept it at an unreasonable temperature. There different levels of "hot" and McDonalds kept it at a temp that you wouldn't be able to drink it at anyways. The old lady that got burned by the coffee had 3rd degree burns, which basically means it burned through the skin to the muscle beneath and had to get major skin grafts. Her original request was just for medical compensation, the jury awarded her the punitive damage. I think it ended up being 400k for her or something.

http://www.vanfirm.com/mcdonalds-coffee-lawsuit.htm
http://lawandhelp.com/q298-2.htm

Stop posting that tripe.

As was shown in the other thread, 180 degrees holding temp is IDEAL and the industry standard.

She got third degree burns because she sat in the damn puddle of coffee for 90+ seconds after she stupidly fiddled with the cup in her lap.

Please, go read the other thread before posting such bullsh!t propaganda.

The Stella case was lost because of one reason: The stupidity of McDonald's insurance company's lawyers.

 

[ElFenix]

maybe all hot beverages are unreasonably dangerous and simply shouldn't exist? being at industry standard doesn't mean that the standard (and therefore any product following the industry standard) isn't unreasonably dangerous.

 

[Jeff7]

My grandmother says that she'll sue any place that serves her coffee that isn't really hot. She likes her coffee to be hot enough to melt steel, and darker than the core of a singularity.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Jeff7
My grandmother says that she'll sue any place that serves her coffee that isn't really hot. She likes her coffee to be hot enough to melt steel, and darker than the core of a singularity.

Is your grandma really a geek, or did you make up the part about a singularity?

 

[crt1530]

I think the Birmingham DA should bring charges against her for criminally negligent driving for operating a vehicle without properly securing a "scalding hot" cup of liquid which any reasonable person would expect to interfere with their ability to drive.

 

[itsjsw]

People are idiots. I say we just take the warning labels off and let issues work themselves out.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: Mo0o
Sometimes it's not all common sense, especially since in the McDonalds lawsuit they kept it at an unreasonable temperature. There different levels of "hot" and McDonalds kept it at a temp that you wouldn't be able to drink it at anyways. The old lady that got burned by the coffee had 3rd degree burns, which basically means it burned through the skin to the muscle beneath and had to get major skin grafts. Her original request was just for medical compensation, the jury awarded her the punitive damage. I think it ended up being 400k for her or something.

http://www.vanfirm.com/mcdonalds-coffee-lawsuit.htm
http://lawandhelp.com/q298-2.htm

Stop posting that tripe.

As was shown in the other thread, 180 degrees holding temp is IDEAL and the industry standard.

She got third degree burns because she sat in the damn puddle of coffee for 90+ seconds after she stupidly fiddled with the cup in her lap.

Please, go read the other thread before posting such bullsh!t propaganda.

The Stella case was lost because of one reason: The stupidity of McDonald's insurance company's lawyers.

Wrong. It was shown that 180 degrees is High enough to cause 3d degree burns in less than 5 seconds.

Anyway, the ideal temperature of coffee is 150 degrees. The amount of heat damage taken goes up exponentially in the 30 degree differance.

McDonalds lost because they had been negligent. They had received hundred of complaints about coffee being too hot, and they failed to do anything.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: Jeff7
My grandmother says that she'll sue any place that serves her coffee that isn't really hot. She likes her coffee to be hot enough to melt steel, and darker than the core of a singularity.

Is your grandma really a geek, or did you make up the part about a singularity?

She said the first part. I said the second part to drive home the point.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: tenshodo13

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: Mo0o
Sometimes it's not all common sense, especially since in the McDonalds lawsuit they kept it at an unreasonable temperature. There different levels of "hot" and McDonalds kept it at a temp that you wouldn't be able to drink it at anyways. The old lady that got burned by the coffee had 3rd degree burns, which basically means it burned through the skin to the muscle beneath and had to get major skin grafts. Her original request was just for medical compensation, the jury awarded her the punitive damage. I think it ended up being 400k for her or something.

http://www.vanfirm.com/mcdonalds-coffee-lawsuit.htm
http://lawandhelp.com/q298-2.htm

Stop posting that tripe.

As was shown in the other thread, 180 degrees holding temp is IDEAL and the industry standard.

She got third degree burns because she sat in the damn puddle of coffee for 90+ seconds after she stupidly fiddled with the cup in her lap.

Please, go read the other thread before posting such bullsh!t propaganda.

The Stella case was lost because of one reason: The stupidity of McDonald's insurance company's lawyers.

Wrong. It was shown that 180 degrees is High enough to cause 3d degree burns in less than 5 seconds.

Anyway, the ideal temperature of coffee is 150 degrees. The amount of heat damage taken goes up exponentially in the 30 degree differance.

McDonalds lost because they had been negligent. They had received hundred of complaints about coffee being too hot, and they failed to do anything.

#1 is irrelavant.

#2 is a complete fabrication.

Fact: The National Coffee Association instructs that coffee be brewed "between 195-205 degrees Fahrenheit for optimal extraction" and consumed "immediately". If not consumed immediately, the coffee is to be "maintained at 180-185 degrees Fahrenheit."

http://www.ncausa.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=71

Fact: McDonalds and most other venders STILL serve their coffee at between 170 and 180 degrees.

#3 is just absurd. 700 complaints in ten years is a complaint rate of 1 in 24million cups of coffee. You stand a 5 times better chance of getting hit by lighting.

Maybe you should read something other than ambulance chaser propaganda?

An example of a lost case since:

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/g...se.pl?court=7th&navby=docket&no=974131

The opinion noted that hot coffee (179 °F or 82 C in this case) is not "unreasonably dangerous.":


quote:

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The smell (and therefore the taste) of coffee depends heavily on the oils containing aromatic compounds that are dissolved out of the beans during the brewing process. Brewing temperature should be close to 200 degrees F to dissolve them effectively, but without causing the premature breakdown of these delicate molecules. Coffee smells and tastes best when these aromatic compounds evaporate from the surface of the coffee as it is being drunk. Compounds vital to flavor have boiling points in the range of 150 degrees F to 160 degrees F, and the beverage therefore tastes best when it is this hot and the aromatics vaporize as it is being drunk. For coffee to be 150 degrees F when imbibed, it must be hotter in the pot. Pouring a liquid increases its surface area and cools it; more heat is lost by contact with the cooler container; if the consumer adds cream and sugar (plus a metal spoon to stir them) the liquid's temperature falls again. If the consumer carries the container out for later consumption, the beverage cools still further.
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180 degree holding temp IS ideal. And the coffee will NOT be 180 degrees when consumed. As the court points out, all the actions between pot and customer lower the temp considerably. Customer variables also lower it even more. Obviously the customer who likes it black will have to wait a bit. However the customer who adds mound of cream and sugar will not have to wait much at all.