Can you come up with a link to a case where a burglar has sued and actually won? I'd be very interested in seeing this. Anyone can sue, of course, and brugalrs have done that; but winning is another matter.
Without an actual link, this seems like urban myth to me.
There seems to be a tendency for people to want to believe the worst about American civil law. Yes, people sometimes do sue for crazy things, but most lose. And occassionally a jury will order a ridiculous judgement, but those are almost always overturned on appeal. I'm not going to say "always" since I'm not omniscient, but whenver I've looked into a harsh judgement that made it through appeal, it has turned out the award was justified. But people still cling to the crazy narrative as if it is pervasive.
I have to laugh everytime I hear the McD's coffee tale. Twice before this judgement, I bought McD's coffee; and twice I got second degree burns on my mouth, my lips blistering and the roof of my mouth peeling. I never bought their coffee again, of course; I don't know why other people continued to put up with it. But I'm not surprised someone got third-degree burns, and her lawsuit did everyone a service by getting McD's to fix the problem. I guess people are willing to act like sheep by drinking injuriously hot liquids and believing counter-productive urban legends without question, but I think things could be better otherwise.
