[shirleyquirk]

McD would like this to continue being a cliche example of frivolous litigation, but the opposite is true. https://negrettilaw.com/news/mcdonalds-coffee-lawsuit-facts/ or any other search result will tell you:

- She was hospitalised for 8 days, suffered burns to her pelvic /bones/, was disabled for 2 years.

- She offered to settle for the cost of her hospital bill, McD refused.

- McD were keeping the coffee at 190°F

[dpark]

I think McDonald’s was stupid to not settle and pay her medical bills. But the facts indicate that McDonald’s coffee was not significantly hotter than other coffee. 190 degrees is only 5 degrees hotter than is typical for the industry. Starbucks serves at 185.

It’s worth noting that as a result of this lawsuit, McDonald’s didn’t even lower the temperature of their coffee. This isn’t just because they’re stubborn assholes. Customers want hot coffee and hot coffee happens to be dangerous.

[dekhn]

no bones were burned. that's absurd.

[shirleyquirk]

>In some areas, the burn went as deep as subcutaneous fat, muscle, or bone (photos are not for the faint of heart). https://www.lawphx.com/blog/2017/march/mcdonald-s-hot-coffee...

[dekhn]

there's no photos on the site, and like any lawyer, they used an OR statement which evaluates ambiguously Other reports state skin damage (second or third degree burns) which are serious.

Remember, lawyers always use appeals to emotion and other tricks to overstate things to get the best possible outcome (a settlement in this case).

[shirleyquirk]

Sorry, yes, terrible resource.

I could be wrong about the depth to which her burns penetrated, I can't find where I initially read that.

I offer instead a lesser argument: it is not absurd that a burn penetrate deep enough to affect bone, especially at the pelvis where bone is close to the surface.

I will not link photos, they are indeed horrifying and if you go look for them they are more persuasive than anything I can say

[dekhn]

Bone-affecting burns are 4th degree or higher. It's almost absurd to imagine that a cup of coffee below boiling could do that even where skin layers (and fat layers, which absorb a lot of heat) are thin.