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83-Year Old Suing Apple After Walking into Glass Doors at Retail Store

Amazing Iceman said:
Coffe is meant to be very hot.
It's not supposed to spill on your lap unless you are a klutz or an idiot, or planned it all with a greedy lawyer.
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You're so right you genius. She should have used that cup of coffee as intended instead of dangerously opening it up in the car. She should have drunken it, as intended, and gotten those third degree burns in her mouth and throat, right? Just like all coffee drinkers?

Or would it have been a lower temperature on her lips than it was on her thighs? She's actually LUCKY she spilled it.

Christ.
 
Same little old lady next week will probably crash her car in to a tree, then sue the state for planting a tree in her way.

And when the same lady walks in to the patio sliding glass door at her daughter's house, will she sue as well?

Apple will of course settle for some undisclosed amount of money ($25K or so) so they don't look like they're picking on a little old lady injured in one of their stores, but this lady has no one to blame but herself.

Accident? Yes. Apple's fault? Hardly. If she can't see well enough to avoid obstacles, she should stay out of the shopping mall or she should be escorted by a family member.

I think I'll go smash my finger when closing the lid of a demo 17" MacBook Pro. Those things are heavy. I wonder how much money I can get.... Apple of course should have anticipated people would smash their fingers and thus rendered inoperable the hinges on the display models.

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Boisv said:
You're so right you genius. She should have used that cup of coffee as intended instead of dangerously opening it up in the car. She should have drunken it, as intended, and gotten those third degree burns in her mouth and throat, right? Just like all coffee drinkers?

Or would it have been a lower temperature on her lips than it was on her thighs? She's actually LUCKY she spilled it.

Christ.
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Or, you know, let a hot cup of coffee cool down instead of putting it right to her face. Or do people just assume that hot coffee will always be served at just the right temperature for your personal tolerances.
 
I'm sorry that the granny broke her nose, but I don't think you can put the blame on Apple for this one... And the amounts she's suing for look really greedy too...

And regarding the whole McDonald's coffee conundrum... common sense dictates that hot coffee is indeed hot, but not hot to the point of causing that kind of burns... I probably wouldn't have burns in my nether regions because I'm unlikely to hold liquds in flimsy cups between my legs, an involuntary muscle contraction and is going to be an almighty mess, but I would expect to have burnt tongue/lips/palate if my local coffee shop would serve coffee that hot...
 
JasperJanssen said:
You really shouldn't. Are you telling me you have NEVER spilled coffee or tea on yourself?

Because I can guaran-damn-tee you you did NOT receive third degree burns from it[1]. This is not a bit sore and red, it's not even blisters and potentially a little bit of scarring, it's skin grafts and hospital time and massive scarring. If you get it on your face, it's looking like http://www.lewrockwell.com/vance/man-burned.jpg for the rest of your life.

[1] If you did, you wouldn't be trivialising it.
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Exactly right Jasper. Thanks for including the pic. Coffee is NOT supposed to do that.

I've burned my mouth drinking coffee. I've burned my mouth drinking tea and hot chocolate, or even eating pizza. Some times food is really hot and it burns. You feel stupid and you wait for it to cool. It hurts your tongue and it's annoying. We've all been there. But this is not what happened to this woman. This doesn't describe third degree burns.

Third degree burns are an entirely different level of injury. They're life changing and life threatening. Skin Grafting is an extremely painful procedure.
 
xraydoc said:
Or, you know, let a hot cup of coffee cool down instead of putting it right to her face. Or do people just assume that hot coffee will always be served at just the right temperature for your personal tolerances.
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The argument was made that it was excessively hot, and McDonalds had market research to indicate that in fact people do prefer to drink it very shortly after it is served - when people also open the lid to apply sugar and creamer. There is standards out there for recommended serving temps. What McDonalds did back then was serve it at much higher temps - so hot that they received over 700 complaints about burn injury and they even changed it after the suit.

ETA:
Again, the case that everybody is touting here is widely misunderstood and went far beyond the simple notion of spilling coffee that hot on her lap. That is only a very small portion of the case that was made. Comparing it to this situation is totally unfair and is in no way accurate. Simply put, the case has not been determined to be frivolous - we don't have all the facts.
 
I work in the Div 8 industry and see these kind of lawsuits all the time. The only thing this has to do with Apple is that it just happens to be their store.

I've seen MANY lesser companies get sued and most of the time everyone from the company who installed the glass or door to the building owner and in-between gets dragged into it. The result is always a settlement unless it can be proven the injuries were fake.

I've been waiting for Apple to get hit with this, they definitely take aesthetics over safety. Not that I am staunch on responsibility of safety, any person should be able to realize what is in front of them. And when you do something stupid like walk into a piece of glass or door, realize you are at fault and move on.
 
Boisv said:
She should have drunken it, as intended, and gotten those third degree burns in her mouth and throat, right? Just like all coffee drinkers?
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You think the National Coffee Assocation is wrong? They recommend that coffee be brewed at 195-205 and drunk immediately. If not drunk immediately, maintained at a temp of 180-185.
 
pdjudd said:
The argument was made that it was excessively hot, and McDonalds had market research to indicate that in fact people do prefer to drink it very shortly after it is served - when people also open the lid to apply sugar and creamer. There is standards out there for recommended serving temps. What McDonalds did back then was serve it at much higher temps - so hot that they received over 700 complaints about burn injury and they even changed it after the suit.

ETA:
Again, the case that everybody is touting here is widely misunderstood and went far beyond the simple notion of spilling coffee that hot on her lap. That is only a very small portion of the case that was made. Comparing it to this situation is totally unfair and is in no way accurate. Simply put, the case has not been determined to be frivolous - we don't have all the facts.
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Agreed.

If a person has suffered third degree burns as a consequence of spilling a liquid that's intended for human consumption on her I wouldn't dare to label it as frivolous.

Regardless of whether you perceive it as lack of common sense or not I find difficult to put in the same sentence "you've irreversibly scarred yourself with this coffee" and "silly fool, move on and get over it".
 
My first instinct is to say that this is retarded and reflects poorly of our society.

But I like to see the video if that exists and reserve judgement.

IF this is another FRIVOLOUS lawsuit then I would PENALIZE the granny AND the lawyer!!

It's important to PENALIZE the lawyer or else they have NO SKIN in this game. Bottom feeders!
 
Even our old dog who has cataracts, stops at the glass door and there are no markings at her nose level.
 
Boisv said:
Personal tolerances? She got third degree burns.

Once agian, another poster does not know what a third degree burn is.

http://www.google.com/search?q=thir...a=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&ved=0CCwQ_AUoAQ
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She got 3rd degree burns because she spilled it in her lap, in her car, and basically sat in it for seconds to minutes before she was able to remove herself from the hot liquid. If she hadn't doused herself in it - had she been able to move out of the way - she would not have suffered 3rd degree burns.

She should have sued Ford or GM or whoever made her car because the shape of her seats created a pool of hot liquid in which she had to sit.
 
Boisv said:
You're so right you genius. She should have used that cup of coffee as intended instead of dangerously opening it up in the car. She should have drunken it, as intended, and gotten those third degree burns in her mouth and throat, right? Just like all coffee drinkers?

Or would it have been a lower temperature on her lips than it was on her thighs? She's actually LUCKY she spilled it.

Christ.
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You dont just chug coffee. Stop defending morons.
 
freejack said:
I just have one thing to say about this:

Image
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That is the Manhasset Apple store and there are actually no doors there. That is the back of the store (which is actually in the front of the street, the store is in a way backwards) so it wouldn't be the best example. The actual entrance is really easy to see, I mean come on.
 

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Boisv said:
Guns are supposed to fire bullets.

Coffee is not supposed to cause third degree burns.

I'm sure you're smarter than this.
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Coffee is served between 150F and 175F.

Liquid above 150F causes third degree burns.
 
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xraydoc said:
She got 3rd degree burns because she spilled it in her lap, in her car, and basically sat in it for seconds to minutes before she was able to remove herself from the hot liquid. If she hadn't doused herself in it - had she been able to move out of the way - she would not have suffered 3rd degree burns.

She should have sued Ford or GM or whoever made her car because the shape of her seats created a pool of hot liquid in which she had to sit.
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Incorrect. She did not get third degree burns because she spilt it on her lap. That is not how burns work. She got third degree burns because it was incredibly too hot. She would have gotten third degree burns whether she had spilt in her lap, on her arm, down her throat, whevever. Once a liquid hot enough to produce third degree is spilt on the skin, "moving out of the way" will not help you.
 
iHutch105 said:
Why should Apple have to pay for someone else's stupidity?

Be it $500 or $5,000,000, the woman deserves nothing. I've walked in a bunch of Apple stores, both in the UK and the US without managing to break my nose. Surely I should get the $500 for competently walking through a door, shouldn't I?
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Because a glass wall is never a good choice. Few people walk against them, but it will happen. Not to you, but you probably don't have vision problems. Some people do and you can't expect them to stay home. Also, I don't know how many birds will get killed. Still, I find the amounts demanded by the lady to be way over excessive, but as I said before, a few hundred US$ and a few changes should be enough.
 
smdh.

how does one break their nose walking into a glass window?
idk, i've crashed into many a sliding glass doors while drunk .. nothing broken, nothing scratched.
 
Boisv said:
Incorrect. She did not get third degree burns because she spilt it on her lap. That is not how burns work. She got third degree burns because it was incredibly too hot. She would have gotten third degree burns whether she had spilt in her lap, on her arm, down her throat, whevever. Once a liquid hot enough to produce third degree is spilt on the skin, "moving out of the way" will not help you.
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No. Heat wasn't the mechanism for the burns, spilling is. You have the worst logic.

So basically if I heat up a glass of water, by your logic, I should automatically receive burns. Spilling caused the burns. Coffee is brewed using water that is extremely hot (above 150F which is third degree burn temperature), anyone who has a brain knows coffee is hot, and driving with hot coffee in your lap not only is stupid because of the burn factor but also the danger it presents while you are driving. Even my dog knows that coffee is hot.
 
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