1. why are you trying to hold hot coffee with your balls?....regardless of the temperature?....
2. dont be a fucking idiot and the whole thing couldve been avoided
3. i tried to hold a hot clothes iron with my dick and it got burned...im gonna sue the iron mfg!!!
4. ok, and?....how many complaints do you think they get a year over stupid shit?....do they have to respond to every karen who hurts themselves by being fucking retarded
5. i bet they get hundreds of complaints a year about someone getting sick after drinking water from their toilets
6. again, all of which were her own damn fault for trying to hold coffee with her cooch.
7. "dangerously hot".....yeah, its fucking coffee....its all "dangerously hot".....
8. what if someone pours 150 degree coffee on their nuts and leaves it for 30 seconds.....is that also Mcdonalds fault?.....
9. how long is an acceptable level of time to pour hot coffee on my nuts before it becomes my fault and not Mcdonalds?
10. or does McDonalds have to start serving room temperature pre-chewed food so the autistics in our society dont harm themselves?
11. for a group of people who happily cheer for Darwin award candidates....yall are quick to come to the defense of a lady who apparently hasnt learned how to handle hot liquids in her 79 years on earth.....most normal people learn that before the age of 10.
Point 1 and 2- It is hard to remember, but in 1992, it was rare to have a cup holder in a car. In fact, this very case ushered in the era of common cup holders in US vehicles. I remember my dad setting his coffee mug on the dash of our Oldsmobile and thinking, "why doesn't this care have a place to put a coffee mug?"
Point 3- If the iron was designed by the manufacturer to be substantially hotter than industry norms, AND they knew that the design posed an increased risk, AND they actively ignored that risk, you might have a case.
Point 4- They probably get a bunch of complaints about a bunch of stuff. But, they actively ignored complaints about a product that posed an unacceptable risk. (An unacceptable risk, at least in the judgement of the jury and the judge) That is negligence.
Point 6- Goes back to point 1 and 2. And, she was apparently holding it with her knees, and the cup spilled backwards toward her.
Point 7- 150 deg coffee was the industry standard. Again, the coffee that McD was serving was substantially above that. They created the increased risk by intentionally serving coffee that was hotter than the norm.
Point 7 (Dangerously hot)- Yes, you can be burned by coffee that is 150 deg. However, it takes about 30 sec of continuous exposure to get 3rd degree burns from this temp. You have time to eliminate the problem before the worst of the effects. But, at 180-190, you only have about 3 seconds (not enough time to really react effectively) before essentially melting your skin.
Point 8- Cases of negligence assign fault, and both parties can be assigned partial fault. Leibeck was assigned 20% fault, because she did spill the cup. But, McD was assigned 80% fault because of their refusal to serve coffee within the norms of the industry, and they willfully ignored previous complaints that the coffee was an increased burn risk. In your example, you would retain 100% fault.
Point 9- This isn't about time. It is about negligence. Let's look at the legal definition... [failure to use reasonable care, resulting in damage or injury to another]. By ignoring the complaints, and serving the coffee at a temp well above industry standards, they failed to use reasonable care. Leibeck also failed to use reasonable care (by spilling the cup), but the jury found her fault to be smaller, and that McD had created the larger share of the problem by serving overly hot coffee.
Point 10- The smoothie joints already have the market cornered on pre-masticated sustenance.
Point 11- I remember my grandmother's hands being so twisted from arthritis that she could barely hold a cup of coffee. I'm giving Leibeck (79 at the time- well beyond Darwin Award age) the benefit of the doubt that the reason she was holding the coffee between her knees was because she needed both hands to remove the lid to add the cream and sugar and whatever to her coffee.
My first vehicle was a stick shift GMC Sierra and I remember holding many beverages with my legs, because it did not have a cup holder. I also learned to shift with my left hand, as my right was occupied with a drink or draped around the shoulder of a pretty girl. But, the most I risked was wet pants and some shrinkage (Seinfeld reference), because I don't drink coffee.
I'm not a lawyer and I don't drink coffee- but I have stayed at a Holiday Inn.