How A Lawsuit Over Hot Coffee Helped Erode the 7th Amendment

Re:How A Lawsuit Over Hot Coffee Helped Erode the 7th Amendment by avalaunch on Sunday May 11, 2014 @12:01AM (#7727722)

I think it comes down to expectations. There's an expectation when you buy a drink that it will be served at a drinkable temperature. True, there's also an expectation when you buy coffee that it will be served at a temperature hot enough to cause injuries if you spill it on yourself. But the expectation is that those injuries will be first or perhaps second degree burns, certainly not third. Had that been the case, I don't think any jury would have awarded her any money. I also don't think she would have sued.

To continue your Walmart analogy, the expectation would be that the guns are sold empty. But if instead Walmart were selling guns preloaded without warning the customers that there were bullets already in the guns, I would argue that Walmart would be at least some percentage at fault when some percentage of their customers inevitably shot themselves or others, just as it was some percentage McDonald's fault when their customers spilled the dangerously hot coffee on themselves.

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Re:How A Lawsuit Over Hot Coffee Helped Erode the 7th Amendment by nthj on Sunday May 11, 2014 @12:18PM (#7729034)

> But if instead Walmart were selling guns preloaded without warning the customers that there were bullets already in the guns, I would argue that Walmart would be at least some percentage at fault when some percentage of their customers inevitably shot themselves or others

I see your point, but I think it might be worth clarifying that despite Walmart's probable liability, this would in no way indemnify their customers; the first rule of gun safety is RESPECT EVERY GUN AS LOADED until disassembled into its component parts, no exceptions.

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Re:How A Lawsuit Over Hot Coffee Helped Erode the 7th Amendment by Crito on Sunday May 11, 2014 @04:47PM (#7729929)

> But the expectation is that those injuries will be first or perhaps second degree burns, certainly not third.

That expectation is unreasonable. If you go to Starbucks today and get a black coffee, that coffee will be hot enough to give you third degree burns. If you buy black coffee from Mcdonalds today, it will likely be just as hot as the coffee was that burned that woman two decades ago.

The industry standard was and continues to be serving coffee that can cause 3rd degree burns. You would do well to expect that.

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