The world has had the misfortune of witnessing what could probably pass as the most awkward court case ever. It would be my place to say that the Apostle Paul could have written three new epistles with all that time wasted on such a frivolous lawsuit. I’m referring to the case mockingly called common sense vs McDonalds.
It happened in 1992, and left the civil atmosphere over-confident of the extent the law can go to protect men. A 72 year old grandma from Albuquerque named Stella Liebeck was behind the gears that grinded the worlds famous fast food maker and distributor; McDonalds.
As Phinehas Osei said to my hearing once; some of the worst atrocities ever committed begun with the most noble intentions. Apparently, with her son driving her, Stella had just innocently bought a coffee from the victimized McDonalds’ Drive Through. After pulling over to have her sweet grandma add sugar and cream from their paper sachets, a not so very abnormal thing happened; the coffee cup between her thighs inevitably split in her lap after she tried to pull the lid off. The “scalding hot coffee”- she saw as a violation of her human rights and decided to teach McDonalds to respect the elderly.
Stella Liebeck decided to simply launch a complaint to McDonalds but that harmless gesture changed when she wasn’t given enough attention. She went berserk; suing McDonalds for negligence because the coffee was too hot to be safe. What was even sillier was how the jury found her ‘sane’ and had McDonalds reward her with a $160,000 in compensatory damages and whopping $2.7million in punitive damages. Eventually though and by the stroke of good fortune, it was settled out for court for less.
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