Another "Beyond Belief" moment

[deestafford]

Just don't pull that tab off your mattress.

If you get Consumer's Report magazine, send them that picture and write up.  They have a section of humor for just such things. 

Dee

[pmillen]

Remember the lady a few years back who won a lawsuit against McDonalds because she spilled hot coffee in her lap?

That case was ridiculed in the press as the height of frivolous lawsuit settlements.  But there's a lot more to the story.  It wasn't a case of a person getting a "strawberry" from hot liquid.  She was about 80 years old and had to have skin grafts on her thighs, crotch and butt. 

She knew the coffee would be hot but she had no reason to expect third degree burns on six percent of her body from it if spilled.  After all, it was intended to be drank.

Her original request to McDonalds was for help with her current and future medical bills that were estimated to be $20,000.  Their response was a polite version of pound sand.  McDonalds declined all attempts at pre-trial settlement including refusal to attend two third-party mediations.

She decided to sue and the jury awarded her punitive damages equal to two days of McDonalds coffee revenue which equaled $2.7M.  The judge wouldn't allow the jury's punitive damages and reduced the amount to less than a half million.

[Las Vegan Cajun]

Remember the lady a few years back who won a lawsuit against McDonalds because she spilled hot coffee in her lap?

That case was ridiculed in the press as the height of frivolous lawsuit settlements.  But there's a lot more to the story.  It wasn't a case of a person getting a "strawberry" from hot liquid.  She was about 80 years old and had to have skin grafts on her thighs, crotch and butt. 

She knew the coffee would be hot but she had no reason to expect third degree burns on six percent of her body from it if spilled.  After all, it was intended to be drank.

Her original request to McDonalds was for help with her current and future medical bills that were estimated to be $20,000.  Their response was a polite version of pound sand.  McDonalds declined all attempts at pre-trial settlement including refusal to attend two third-party mediations.

She decided to sue and the jury awarded her punitive damages equal to two days of McDonalds coffee revenue which equaled $2.7M.  The judge wouldn't allow the jury's punitive damages and reduced the amount to less than a half million.

That's the story I heard too, yes it may seem like a ridiculous amount of money for a coffee spill but when you sit in the trial and hear all the facts it changes things.


I had a case many years ago when I was involved in an accident and to make a long story short my insurance company screwed me out of $286 on my claim.  After a demand letter from my attorney to them resulted in a refusal to pay the $286, we filed a lawsuit against them.   The insurance company still refused a pretrial settlement and we took the case to a jury trial.   The jury awarded us a $4.5 million punitive damage award, the judge reduced the award to $2.0 million and the insurance company filed an appeal that went all the way up to the state supreme court.  When it was finally settled we were awarded $500,000 for the case.  Eight years of litigation, half million dollar verdict, and all the attorney fees over $286 cost them dearly.

Here is a link to the case: http://az.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.19920630_0040171.AZ.htm/qx

[Big Dawg]

Too many lawyers......

They knew it waaaaaay back when ! ! !





BD

[pmillen]

Strictly speaking, this is not a William Shakespeare quote but, rather, the words of one of his characters in Henry the Sixth, Part 2.  He is Dick, a butcher not highly regarded for his intellect.  The words are part of Shakespeare’s demonstration of not only Dick’s ignorance but also the fallacies in another character’s ill-conceived plan to become a dictator.

The people who study Shakespeare discount everything Dick says.  I recommend that he not be quoted.