Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

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

Vorpal279 said:
Oh, give me a break. This is on the "McDonalds Hot Cofee in my Lap" level.
Click to expand...

Welll,
That incident was, you can say the final case of boiling coffee spilling on someones lap.
Their was a long history of spilled coffee accidents and that one was successfully argued that McD was putting drive thru customers safety in jeopardy.
The verdict was justified, but the punishment is questionable.
 
Its not unreasonable to assume water needs to be boiled to make coffee or tea. So you must assume it will be very hot soon afterward.
 
thekev said:
The figures I've read suggest it was higher than $11,000, and that McDonalds did not wish to cover that at all initially. Third degree burns are pretty brutal. That's not just blistering. That indicates several layers of skin melted. A first degree burn will not require a trip to the hospital. It gets red, you cool it down. Pain should at least be gone by the following day. That's really not the same as requiring skin grafts, and people are unlikely to anticipate such a risk from a cup of coffee. If you look over some of the threads on here, people are pretty damn clumsy, and it happens to everyone at some point. How many times have you noted threads on spilled x liquid on my laptop? Anyway note my response below. They could have paid her medical bills (before it turned into a lawsuit), adjusted their temperatures to something lower, and moved on.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald's_Restaurants

I don't always cite wiki, but it has a nice collection of source and reference links on the page :). I can't find any info how the 2.7 million in punitive damages became a number. Considering the references to other cases available and that they had been sued on such matters before, it should have been adjusted already. No one would expect a cup of coffee to cause third degree burns. In this one, McDonalds should have just covered medical right away, adjusted their policies accordingly and left it at that.
Click to expand...

From the same link posted "The jurors apparently arrived at this figure from Morgan's suggestion to penalize McDonald's for one or two days' worth of coffee revenues, which were about $1.35 million per day"

She gets hurt and they decide to give her a few days worth of Coffee revenue! How is that justice? That's like saying American Airlines lost my luggage so they should pay me a few days worth of bag fees.
 
It's absurd to compare 3rd degree burns on your genitals to lost luggage.

John Hammond: "When they opened Disneyland in 1956, nothing worked." Ian: "Yeah, but John, if the Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down, the pirates don't eat the tourists."

When you lose your luggage, your skin doesn't fall off.
 
if you're dumb enough to put something boiling hot on your junk and you get burned, it's natures way of keeping you from breeding and passing on inferior genes.:roll eyes: Honestly, will we ever get back to people being responsible for their own actions? The majority of people like this are just looking for a quick, easy buck from someone with deep pockets. Greed, pure and simple....
 
Boisv said:
But isn't that really missing the point? It IS supposed to go down your throat while hot, which in this case would have been far worse. I'm just saying that if she didn't spill it and instead drank it (which is expected of her) I feel the injury would have actually been far worse.

Interesting theory about the clothing, but the courts did look into that and it seems they decided that the coffee posed an unreasonable risk regardless of her clothing. The clothing may have aggrevated the damage, making a "clean" wound more difficult to bandage and heal, but it wouldn't turn a second degree burn into a third degree burn. Only more heat can do that. I'm sure the clothing did make it worse, but coffee that hot could do terrible, irreversible damage to someone's mouth. Coffee shouldn't be able to melt clothing.
Click to expand...

Boiling water could easily melt synthetic clothing. I know a close case about it.

Just wait until it's hot enough to drink, and make sure you don't spill on yourself.
 
Mattie Num Nums said:
From the same link posted "The jurors apparently arrived at this figure from Morgan's suggestion to penalize McDonald's for one or two days' worth of coffee revenues, which were about $1.35 million per day"

She gets hurt and they decide to give her a few days worth of Coffee revenue! How is that justice? That's like saying American Airlines lost my luggage so they should pay me a few days worth of bag fees.
Click to expand...

I wasn't really talking about the jury at all there. I was talking about the woman. That case was used as a common reference example of a frivolous lawsuit for years. In this case your issue seems to be with the decision of the jury on punitive damages rather than the woman who prior to the case requested coverage for medical bills. Like I said, they could have initially handled the situation better rather than simply dismissing it. Everyone knows coffee is hot. No one would expect to require skin grafts after spilling it. Juries aren't always logical in their calculations, and that number could have literally nothing to do with what was initially requested. Further when they did eventually pay, they bought her silence. That was the deal. She could not talk about it. They could. It may have saved them more in bad PR than the final amount paid out.
 
I doubt the coffee was "boiling hot" and I don't know of any fabric the melts at less than 212 degrees. Edible panties being the exception. We need some sort of "common sense " statute added to any law....
 
This is funny, I ran into a plastic wall about a week ago. It was at a relaxed music venue where I had a few glasses of wine...
 
Really? I mean come on. I have walked into a sliding glass door and I certainly didn't sue the owner for me being a momentary dumbass. She's a greedy old hag.
 
I Love Americans and America but: He he I got a few new jokes about Americans here in Canada :cool:
 
mrklaw said:
apple stores in the UK tend to have permanently open front doors - so its just like a big hole in the front glass wall
Click to expand...

I'm sure they still have displays like other Apple stores do, I'm sure of that as all Apple stores run pretty much the same promotions.

The entrance is suggested because there is a large gap in the middle of two displays where you can walk through to the store.

I'm dubious about this claim because the prominent displays blocking access to the store suggest that you can't enter the store from there.
 
Walking into a glass door

I did this a number of years ago, coming down an escalator into a frameless glass door, would have never thought of suing the owner for being a klutz!!
 
Wirelessly posted

Vorpal279 said:
If this doesn't show that we need tort reform in America, I don't know what does.
Click to expand...

You can file a lawsuit asking for trillions of billions of dollars. Doesn't mean you'll get them.

The fact that she was hurt is sad.

But I don't think many juries would find apple negligent. And more importantly, I don't think many jurors would award her anything more than her medical bills.
 
What ever happen to personal responsibility?

Do we need to make it safe for the stupid .00000000000001%?

This is the dumb down of America and greedy people. :(
 
vojnik said:
sometimes there are things that should be forbidden into court, whats next suing the government for bad weather?
Click to expand...

The weather man said no rain, I planned an out door party and it rained. *hand out* "one bajillion dollars please"
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back