Bizarre News
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Omega_Destroyer
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Gaidal Cain
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The Stella Awards were inspired by Stella Liebeck. Ever since, the name "Stella Award" has been applied to any wild, outrageous, or ridiculous lawsuits -- including bogus cases! For all the hype and press that the case garnered in the end she was awarded $640,000 (480k punitive + 160k compensatory).Mytical wrote:hmm I think we (usa) may have the creme de la creme of silliness. The McDonald's hot coffee incident. Yeah, I know when I order coffee I expect it to be almost cold (insert sarcasm). So somebody orders coffee, spills it on themselves and sues McDonalds because it is hot. Hmm coffee, hot, really????
For those unfamiliar...
Stella Liebeck of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was in the passenger seat of her grandson's car when she was severely burned by McDonalds' coffee in February 1992. Liebeck, 79 at the time, ordered coffee that was served in a styrofoam cup at the drive through window of a local McDonalds.
After receiving the order, the grandson pulled his car forward and stopped momentarily so that Liebeck could add cream and sugar to her coffee. (Critics of civil justice, who have pounced on this case, often charge that Liebeck was driving the car or that the vehicle was in motion when she spilled the coffee; neither is true.) Liebeck placed the cup between her knees and attempted to remove the plastic lid from the cup. As she removed the lid, the entire contents of the cup spilled into her lap.
The sweatpants Liebeck was wearing absorbed the coffee and held it next to her skin. A vascular surgeon determined that Liebeck suffered full thickness burns (or third-degree burns) over 6 percent of her body, including her inner thighs, perineum, buttocks, and genital and groin areas. She was hospitalized for eight days, during which time she underwent skin grafting. Liebeck, who also underwent debridement treatments, sought to settle her claim for $20,000, but McDonalds refused.
During discovery, McDonalds produced documents showing more than 700 claims by people burned by its coffee between 1982 and 1992. Some claims involved third-degree burns substantially similar to Liebecks. This history documented McDonalds' knowledge about the extent and nature of this hazard.
McDonalds also said during discovery that, based on a consultants advice, it held its coffee at between 180 and 190 degrees Fahrenheit to maintain optimum taste. He admitted that he had not evaluated the safety ramifications at this temperature. Other establishments sell coffee at substantially lower temperatures, and coffee served at home is generally 135 to 140 degrees.
Further, McDonalds' quality assurance manager testified that the company actively enforces a requirement that coffee be held in the pot at 185 degrees, plus or minus five degrees. He also testified that a burn hazard exists with any food substance served at 140 degrees or above, and that McDonalds coffee, at the temperature at which it was poured into styrofoam cups, was not fit for consumption because it would burn the mouth and throat. The quality assurance manager admitted that burns would occur, but testified that McDonalds had no intention of reducing the "holding temperature" of its coffee.
Plaintiffs' expert, a scholar in thermodynamics applied to human skin burns, testified that liquids, at 180 degrees, will cause a full thickness burn to human skin in two to seven seconds. Other testimony showed that as the temperature decreases toward 155 degrees, the extent of the burn relative to that temperature decreases exponentially. Thus, if Liebeck's spill had involved coffee at 155 degrees, the liquid would have cooled and given her time to avoid a serious burn.
McDonalds asserted that customers buy coffee on their way to work or home, intending to consume it there. However, the company’s own research showed that customers intend to consume the coffee immediately while driving.
McDonalds also argued that consumers know coffee is hot and that its customers want it that way. The company admitted its customers were unaware that they could suffer third-degree burns from the coffee and that a statement on the side of the cup was not a "warning" but a "reminder" since the location of the writing would not warn customers of the hazard.
The jury awarded Liebeck $200,000 in compensatory damages. This amount was reduced to $160,000 because the jury found Liebeck 20 percent at fault in the spill. The jury also awarded Liebeck $2.7 million in punitive damages, which equals about two days of McDonalds' coffee sales.
Post-verdict investigation found that the temperature of coffee at the local Albuquerque McDonalds had dropped to 158 degrees Fahrenheit.
The trial court subsequently reduced the punitive award to $480,000 -- or three times compensatory damages -- even though the judge called McDonalds' conduct reckless, callous and willful.
No one will ever know the final ending to this case.
The parties eventually entered into a secret settlement which has never been revealed to the public, despite the fact that this was a public case, litigated in public and subjected to extensive media reporting. Such secret settlements, after public trials, should not be condoned.
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If I were a flower, I'd be a really big flame-throwing flower with five heads.
If I were a flower, I'd be a really big flame-throwing flower with five heads.
Hehe, that reminds me of a scene in Clerks when a customer says "What do mean there's no ice? You mean I gotta drink this coffee hot?"Mytical wrote:hmm I think we (usa) may have the creme de la creme of silliness. The McDonald's hot coffee incident. Yeah, I know when I order coffee I expect it to be almost cold (insert sarcasm). So somebody orders coffee, spills it on themselves and sues McDonalds because it is hot. Hmm coffee, hot, really???? wow, that is a shock. Now everything has to come with some of the most rediculous warnings. I bought a close hamper, that had the warning not to put a child in the hamper. A microwave also had that warning. Next thing you know, when it snows, the city will have to put up "Snow is cold, can cause adverse reactions" signs..hehe
Oh man I love that film!
Florida man shot in head, complains of headache
Posted 4 hours 5 minutes ago
A Florida man woke up with a severe headache and asked his wife to drive him to a hospital, where doctors found a bullet lodged behind his right ear.
"The nurse looked at him and said, 'It appears that you've been shot,'" the Fort Pierce Tribune quoted St Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara as saying.
"And he said, 'No way.'"
The man's wife, April Moylan, fled the emergency room when the bullet was discovered but later told deputies she had accidentally shot her husband as he slept early on Tuesday.
She was jailed on a weapons violation charge while deputies pursued additional charges.
The husband, 45-year-old Michael Moylan, woke up with a head pain so severe he suspected he was having an aneurism and asked his wife to take him to the emergency room.
Police arrested the wife after obtaining a search warrant and finding a gun and bloody rags in the couple's home near the Atlantic coastal town of Port St Lucie.
The husband is in hospital in stable condition.
Human madness is the howl of a child with a shattered heart.
of course
why don't you take all the fun out of church
why don't you take all the fun out of church
Plunging necklines a no-no at masses
Posted Wed Jun 27, 2007 9:03am AEST
The Catholic Church has issued guidelines on what Filipinos should wear to mass in Manila after some parishioners complained about distracting skimpy attire.
"This is to remind people that it would be good to come in appropriate clothing because other people are scandalised," said Peachy Yamsuan of the archdiocese of Manila.
"It is for the other worshippers who are distracted. You come to the church to pray and if your eyes wander and you see inappropriate clothes, well, it does not add to your spiritual goals."
The majority of the Philippines' 87 million people are Catholic and worshippers throng sweltering churches each Sunday, although some devotees attend religious services in air-conditioned malls, giving the ceremony an informal air.
But Manila's archdiocese has issued posters advising women not to wear short skirts, revealing necklines and spaghetti-strap tops to mass, while men are warned against shorts, caps and basketball jerseys
Human madness is the howl of a child with a shattered heart.
If I'm not mistaken, they held masses on malls for the employees there, but ofcourse there are some shoppers too that attend.
Maybe they just saw a mass going on and just decided to join, but mainly their purpose of going to the mall isn't for the mass but for shopping and etc.
So, therefore, their attire would fit mostly for a shopper but not for attending the mass.
Maybe they just saw a mass going on and just decided to join, but mainly their purpose of going to the mall isn't for the mass but for shopping and etc.
So, therefore, their attire would fit mostly for a shopper but not for attending the mass.
That involved the priest.
Or some have been ehm...distracted so they politely asked for more proper clothing a few years back.
HAHAhahhahaaa....dare I ask what "fell" in her cleavage?Who is online
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