Important recommendations from the article: don't eat, drink, or put in the eye most parts of a Covid test. The article doesn't mention the paper package, you might be safe eating that.
Except it's not supposed to be hot enough to cause third-degree burns. The entire event is horribly mischaracterized.
From https://www.caoc.org/?pg=facts
> Mrs. Liebeck was not driving when her coffee spilled, nor was the car she was in moving. She was the passenger in a car that was stopped in the parking lot of the McDonald’s where she bought the coffee. She had the cup between her knees while removing the lid to add cream and sugar when the cup tipped over and spilled the entire contents on her lap.
> The coffee was not just “hot,” but dangerously hot. McDonald’s corporate policy was to serve it at a temperature that could cause serious burns in seconds. Mrs. Liebeck’s injuries were far from frivolous. She was wearing sweatpants that absorbed the coffee and kept it against her skin. She suffered third-degree burns (the most serious kind) and required skin grafts on her inner thighs and elsewhere.
Coffee served at the “right” temperature is dangerously hot. No one wants tepid coffee.
An equivalent lawsuit in the UK was dismissed, because it turned out that lowering the coffee temperature by the 5 or so degrees to make it match industry standards would have no meaningful effect on the burn risk. Similar lawsuits, including one against Bunn, have been dismissed in the US because this is standard coffee temperature. You can’t serve good coffee at 140 degrees as Liebeck's attorneys argued it should be. Just ban hot coffee at that point.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald%27s_Rest...
Then the judge got this case and the rest is history (if mischaracterized by a remarkable PR campaign by McDonalds).
https://www.ehow.com/info_8682077_brewing-temperatures-mr-co... Brewing Regulations The standard brewing regulations of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (scaa.org) and the National Coffee Association (ncausa.org) require that coffeemakers brew coffee at a temperature between 197.6 degrees Fahrenheit and 204.8 degrees Fahrenheit. Most new coffeemakers will brew to these temperatures, but their performance wanes with extended and excessive use. Of the Mr. Coffee brand, the model JWX27, a 12-cup programmable coffeemaker, has routinely scored highest among tests done by coffee drinkers.
https://www.caoc.org/?pg=facts McDonald’s operations manual required the franchisee to hold its coffee at 180 to 190 degrees Fahrenheit.
My point. Coffee is brewed hot. McDonald's coffee wasn't abnormally hot, it was in fact much cooler than fresh brewed coffee.
Now do you want fresh coffee or not? We really don't need to coddle people with common sense precautions.
- She was hospitalised for 8 days, suffered burns to her pelvic /bones/, was disabled for 2 years.
- She offered to settle for the cost of her hospital bill, McD refused.
- McD were keeping the coffee at 190°F
It’s worth noting that as a result of this lawsuit, McDonald’s didn’t even lower the temperature of their coffee. This isn’t just because they’re stubborn assholes. Customers want hot coffee and hot coffee happens to be dangerous.
Remember, lawyers always use appeals to emotion and other tricks to overstate things to get the best possible outcome (a settlement in this case).
I could be wrong about the depth to which her burns penetrated, I can't find where I initially read that.
I offer instead a lesser argument: it is not absurd that a burn penetrate deep enough to affect bone, especially at the pelvis where bone is close to the surface.
I will not link photos, they are indeed horrifying and if you go look for them they are more persuasive than anything I can say
tl;dr:
The victim was an older lady who was a passenger; she was not the driver. She received third-degree burns because the coffee was very close to boiling temperature. She required skin grafts and was permanently disfigured.
So then the question becomes: Why do most people think this lawsuit was frivolous? That's not by accident.
[0] https://www.huffpost.com/entry/watch-hot-coffee-a-powerf_b_8...
Her lawyers argued that coffee should never be served above 140 degrees. No one wants coffee at that temperature (certainly not anyone who’s going to add cold milk that would make it tepid). 140 degrees isn’t even “safe to eat chicken” temperature.
Just be warned that you will be come out of it angry.
The blame was on McDonalds for negligently selling a dangerous product to a customer. You can look up the case for the details.
I’ve read about the case.
Also, no. Coffee is brewed higher than 185. The Specialty Coffee Association on their own page advocates for 195-205 for brewing temp.
https://sca.coffee/research/protocols-best-practices
Wikipedia claims that SCA advises up to 185 for serving and that Starbucks does exactly that. I don’t see citations for this specifically, though.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald%27s_Rest...
“Similarly, as of 2004, Starbucks sells coffee at 175–185 °F (79–85 °C), and the executive director of the Specialty Coffee Association of America reported that the standard serving temperature is 160–185 °F (71–85 °C).”
If this was brewing into a foam cup, it would have been served very close to 185. Regardless I’m currently drinking a cup of coffee quite close to the 175 number you seem to think is unrealistic. Yeah, it’s hot. It’s definitely not the hottest coffee I’ve ever had, though.