The McDonald’s “Hot Coffee” case is the poster child for frivolous lawsuits, but the insurance industry has spent tens of millions of dollars LYING to you about why it was frivolous. It was because of McDonald’s and their insurance carrier!

In February 1992, 79year old Stella Liebeck and her nephew ordered breakfast at a McDonald’s drivethrough in Albuquerque, NM, and parked the car (a 1989 Ford probe) in the parking lot to eat. Because the car didn’t have cupholders, Stella placed her coffee cup between her knees so she could put in the cream and sugar.

When Stella took the lid off the coffee cup, it spilled onto her leg, burning her. She then flinched in pain, Which caused the rest of the cup to spill onto her seat. The liquid ran down her legs, into her vagina and rectum, causing her horrific thirddegree burns both externally and internally. She was in the hospital for 8 days, and needed multiple surgeries and skin graphs.

She asked McDonald’s to pay her $20,000.00 medical bill, and McDonald’s refused, instead offering her just $800.00. This offer was clearly meant to insult her, and force her to drop the claim or take ot to court. So, she filed her “frivolous lawsuit.”

During the course of the lawsuit, it was learned through McDonald’s own corporate records that it was intentionally serving coffee at 195° — just 17° below the boiling point of water; 75° hotter than FDA’s recommended 120°. Worse yet, McDonald’s knew it’s coffee was seriously burning people — they had more than 700 other burn claims!

So why did McDonald’s continue selling such hot coffee? Because the coffee stayed hot longer, eliminating the need to make it more frequently, which would cut into their profits.

At the time (1992), McDonald’s sold $1.35 MILLION of coffee every single day. That’s $493 MILLION in coffee sales every year. The coffee burn claims they were paying, however, averaged only $500,000 per claim. With 700 coffee burn claims, that’s $350 MILLION in coffee burn claim payouts. So, McDonald’s deliberately, consciously chose to keep its coffee at 195° because their net profit (after coffee burn claim payouts) was a massive $143 MILLION (for just 1 year)!

The jury was so disgusted learning this and McDonald’s other callous profitprioritizing conduct that it awarded Stella Liebeck $160,000 for her medical bills and pain and suffering (way too low, in my opinion), and hit McDonald’s with a $2.7 MILLION punitive damages award to punish them!

Stella Liebeck did NOT want to sue. All she wanted was for McDonald’s to pay her medical bills. McDonald’s KNEW it was doing wrong; it KNEW it was seriously injuring people. But it also knew it’s net profits exceeded its coffee burn claim payouts, so the almighty McDonald’s wielded its power and refused Stella’s reasonable request, thereby forcing her to file suit. This, folks, is the very definition of frivolous.

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