Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2002 18:44:10 -0700 From: Craig <CBobchinXXXXXSPAMKILLXXXXnopsamail.com> Subject: Re: Warning about sticking ignition switches in some models
In article <3D87F386.251DD453nopsamanytime.co.uk>, johsnopsamanytime.co.uk says... <SNIP> > > Perhaps I should have sued the coffee company :)). The story about the old lady > and McDonalds is one of the most quoted lawsuits, it has gone around the world > and the internet a few times, but it turns out to be a brilliant fiction, along > with many other incredible cases: http://www.snopes.com/legal/lawsuits.htm Actually if you read the entire article on SNOPES, you will find that the MCDonalds Coffee Lawsuit was a real one. "It can also be argued that the need for tort reform is overblown. Only rarely do ridiculous lawsuits result in windfalls for the plaintiff; these cases are almost always either thrown out or the judgement goes for the defendant. Some celebrated "outrageous" suits wherein judgement went for the plaintiff prove upon closer examination to be far less "outrageous" than originally presented in the media. (For example, the "woman scalded by hot coffee" suit, which at first blush looked like the height of frivolity proved to be a perfectly legitimate action taken against a corporation that knew, thanks to a string of similar scaldings it had quietly been paying off, that its coffee was not just hot, but dangerously hot. The Association of Trial Lawyers of America provides an excellent description of this case). http://www.atlanet.org/cjfacts/other/mcdonald.ht