Comments | golddustdreams: A stupid cop out.

golddustdreams

A stupid cop out.

Nov 02, 2005 17:26

Some kid in my speech class made me very angry today, and I need to piss and vent.

We are currently working on persuasive speeches. My topic is the infamous coffee lawsuit against McDonald's. I will be defending the verdict. (If you would like to refute this right here and now, I encourage you to read this article first so you know what you're ( Read more... )

Leave a comment

Back to all threads

sorenr November 3 2005, 07:01:39 UTC

It's a classroom excercise; not a grand political statement... And if he felt that strongly about it, then he could've just inserted a disclaimer, saying he disagreed; how hard is that to tell a class of people, right?

Apart fromt that, I really think that lawsuit was ridiculous. Whether it be written on the paper cup or not, one would assume that when a cup of coffee is served, it's actually hot, rather than luke-warm. It's not as if that should come as a surprise to the plaintif...

golddustdreams November 3 2005, 07:21:06 UTC

Actually, the verdict did place 20% of the blame on the woman for spilling her coffee. It's a very uncommonly cited fact. And she simply did not have to sustain injuries that serious. If I were injured as bad as she (3rd degree burns and a 7 day hospital visit), I would damn well want the company to pay for my expenses. And actually, that's all she wanted. $800 in hospital bills and pain and suffering. The company refused. And McDonald's gave a lameass defense. They had it coming. The jury decided punitive damages were at hand ( ... )

sorenr November 3 2005, 07:29:37 UTC

The ideal temperature for the water when you make coffee is 96 degrees celsius, meaning that, with a bit of cooling and so on, I would expect coffee to be served at 85-90 degrees. That is hot, yes, but when I buy coffee, I expect it to be fresh and not something that's been sitting around ( ... )

golddustdreams November 3 2005, 07:38:20 UTC

And that's exactly where the 20% blame came in. The jury acknowledged the fact that the woman spilled her coffee, knowing coffee is hot. They never said McDonald's was 100% liable, otherwise the verdict would have been a lot more severe. And don't you think the situation would have been different if McDonald's, knowing that 180ºF coffee can cause 3rd degree burns in seconds, would have done more to inform people the extent to which they could be injured? And is really common sense? I wouldn't expect when ordering a cup of coffee that I might suffer 3rd degree burns and need to have skin graft therapy.

At home, coffee that hot is a different story. But in a commercial setting, I don't think it should be allowed without proper warning other than "Hot"

sorenr November 3 2005, 07:44:24 UTC

If you have a liquid with a temperature approaching that of boiling water, then yes, I do believe it's common sense to expect it to be able to produce even very severe burns. I don't think there's any need to warm about that when serving coffee, a drink that should ideally be made at high temperatures and served immediately.

If something is hot, then there's always a risk of burning yourself; who can be surprised at that? Spilling coffee is unfortunate, but some accidents are simply accidents and one cannot expect compensation or other payments from somebody for every accident one has.

golddustdreams November 3 2005, 07:56:35 UTC

WELL YOU'RE JUST A FUCKING ASS AND NO-ONE SHOULD LISTEN TO YOU!!!!!!

(Just practicing my ad hominem.) :OP

sorenr November 3 2005, 08:16:40 UTC

I prefer it to be spelt "arse", please... :-P

Anyway; I'm sure you'll do very well, and while I do take issue with the result of the lawsuit, I wouldn't have any trouble defending it myself if I were required to do so in a class. Hey; speech class is not a matter of conviction, but of presentation, right?

Back to all threads