Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants: Case Chronology
Case chronology of Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants, P.T.S., Inc., No. CV-93-02419 (N.M. 2d Jud. Dist. Ct., Bernalillo County): prior notice, the February 27, 1992 injury and medical course, the pre-suit demand and the $800 offer, trial, the $2.86 million verdict, remittitur to $640,000 and the confidential settlement, with subsequent history. Each entry states the fact, the issue it goes to and its source, and flags where the sources conflict.
1982-1992: McDonald's receives more than 700 coffee-burn reports
Between 1982 and 1992 McDonald's Corporation and its restaurant subsidiaries ("McDonald's") received more than 700 reports of customers burned by its coffee, some with third-degree burns, and paid more than $500,000 to settle scalding claims. The figures were before the jury at trial in 1994. • Issue: Notice; punitive damages. • Relevance: Goes to what McDonald's knew before February 27, 1992. McDonald's admitted at trial that it had known of the risk for more than ten years and had not warned customers.
1986: Plaintiff's future counsel settles an earlier McDonald's coffee-burn claim in Houston
S. Reed Morgan, a Houston attorney, represented a Houston woman who suffered third-degree burns from McDonald's coffee. The claim settled for $27,500. In preparing it Morgan had coffee tested at 18 other restaurants and at 20 McDonald's outlets. McDonald's accounted for nine of the twelve hottest readings. • Issue: Notice; temperature evidence. • Relevance: A prior claim on the same product, six years before the incident, handled by the lawyer who later tried this case. • Date: Year only. The month is not in the sources reviewed. • Source note: Single secondary source. Not independently confirmed.
Incident: coffee spill in a parked car at an Albuquerque drive-through
Stella Liebeck ("Plaintiff"), 79, bought a 49-cent cup of coffee at the drive-through window of a McDonald's in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She was the passenger in a 1989 Ford Probe driven by her grandson. The car had no cup holders, and he parked so that she could add cream and sugar. She held the cup between her knees and pulled the lid toward her. The cup tipped and the full contents spilled into her lap. Her cotton sweatpants absorbed the coffee and held it against her skin. • Issue: Liability; comparative fault. • Relevance: The car was stationary and Plaintiff was not driving. Both facts were later misreported. The handling of the cup is the conduct on which the jury assigned Plaintiff 20% of the fault. Image: a 1989 Ford Probe, the model in which the spill occurred. Not the vehicle itself.
Injuries: third-degree burns over 6% of the body, 16% burned in total
Plaintiff suffered full-thickness (third-degree) burns over 6% of her body, including the groin, inner thighs and buttocks. Burns of all degrees covered 16% of her body. • Issue: Damages; causation. • Source conflict: Retro Report gives 16% burned in total, 6% of it third-degree. The Center for Justice & Democracy states third-degree burns over 16%. This entry follows Retro Report and Wikipedia.
Hospitalization: eight days, debridement and skin grafting
Plaintiff was hospitalized for eight days. Treatment included whirlpool debridement of dead tissue and skin grafting. During this period her weight fell by 20 pounds, nearly 20% of her body weight, to 83 pounds. • Issue: Damages; medical expenses. • Date: The admission date and the facility are not in the sources reviewed. The entry is placed the day after the incident for sequence only. • Source conflict: Eight days per Wikipedia, Public Citizen, the Center for Justice & Democracy and the American Museum of Tort Law. Seven days per FindLaw. "A week" per Retro Report.
Post-discharge: three weeks of home care, two years of treatment
After discharge Plaintiff's daughter cared for her at home for about three weeks. Plaintiff was left with permanent scarring and was partially disabled for about two years, during which she remained under medical treatment. • Issue: Damages; future medical expenses; lost income (daughter). • Date: Approximate. The sources give durations, not dates.
Undated (1992): pre-suit request to McDonald's for medical expenses
Plaintiff and her family asked McDonald's in writing to cover her medical expenses, then about $10,500, and her daughter's lost income. The request also asked McDonald's to lower the temperature of its coffee. The figure most sources give for the request is $20,000. • Issue: Pre-suit demand; settlement. • Date: 1992, after discharge. The exact date is not in the sources reviewed. CourtDocket reports that Plaintiff tried for about six months to settle before retaining counsel. • Source conflict: $20,000 per Wikipedia, Consumer Attorneys of California and the Center for Justice & Democracy. $15,000 to $20,000 per the American Museum of Tort Law. About $2,000 out of pocket plus the daughter's lost wages per FindLaw.
Undated (1992): McDonald's responds with an offer of $800
McDonald's offered $800. It did not raise the offer before trial. • Issue: Settlement; punitive damages (conduct). • Relevance: Past medical expenses alone were about $10,500. Consumer Attorneys of California attribute the trial to McDonald's refusal to offer more than $800.
1993: complaint filed, Second Judicial District Court, Bernalillo County
Plaintiff, represented by S. Reed Morgan of Houston with Kenneth Wagner, sued McDonald's Restaurants, P.T.S., Inc. and McDonald's International, Inc., No. D-202 CV-93-02419. The complaint alleged gross negligence and sought recovery for coffee served at an unreasonably dangerous temperature. FindLaw reports that it sought $100,000 in compensatory damages and treble punitive damages. • Issue: Pleadings; forum. • Forum note: The body of the Wikipedia article places the case in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico. The docket number (D-202 CV-93-02419) and the Westlaw citations (1993 WL 13651163; 1995 WL 360309, "N.M. Dist. Ct.") place it in the state Second Judicial District Court. This entry follows the docket and Westlaw. • Date: 1993. The filing date is not in the sources reviewed.
Amended complaint itemizes damages at about $18,000
The amended complaint as to damages itemized Plaintiff's losses: past medical expenses of $10,500, estimated future medical expenses of about $2,500, and about $5,000 in income her daughter lost while caring for her. Total: about $18,000. • Issue: Damages. • Record: 1993 WL 13651163 (N.M. Dist. Ct. Oct. 5, 1993).
Plaintiff's counsel offered to settle for $300,000 and said he would accept half that. Shortly before trial a mediator recommended settlement at $225,000. McDonald's rejected both. • Issue: Settlement; mediation. • Relevance: The mediator's figure was about 35% of the judgment eventually entered ($640,000) and about 8% of the jury's award ($2.86 million). • Date: "Days before trial" per Public Citizen. Exact dates are not in the sources reviewed.
Trial opens before Judge Robert H. Scott
Jury trial began before Judge Robert H. Scott of the Second Judicial District Court, with a twelve-person jury. The evidence closed on August 17, 1994. • Issue: Trial. Image: the Bernalillo County Courthouse, current seat of the Second Judicial District Court, photographed in 2008.
Trial evidence: 180-190°F holding temperature and burn times
McDonald's operations manual required franchisees to hold coffee at 180 to 190°F. Plaintiff's testing found coffee at other outlets at least 20°F cooler. Expert testimony: liquid at 190°F causes a third-degree burn in under three seconds; at 180°F, in about 12 to 15 seconds; at 160°F, in about 20 seconds. McDonald's said the temperature kept coffee hot for commuters. Its own research showed that customers intended to drink it immediately, while driving. • Issue: Liability (defect); notice. • Date: Evidence presented between 8 and 17 August 1994. The day of each witness is not in the sources reviewed.
Testimony of Christopher Appleton, McDonald's quality assurance manager
Appleton testified that McDonald's knew its coffee sometimes caused serious burns but had not consulted burn experts, and that 700 reports did not warrant a change in policy. He said that food above 130°F is a burn hazard and that coffee at the pouring temperature was not fit for consumption, because it would burn the mouth and throat. On whether McDonald's would change its practice: "There are more serious dangers in restaurants." • Issue: Notice; punitive damages (conscious disregard). • Relevance: Admissions by McDonald's own witness on both knowledge and the decision not to act. • Date: During trial, 8 to 17 August 1994.
Testimony of P. Robert Knaff, defense human-factors expert
Knaff, a human-factors engineer retained by McDonald's, testified that the number of burns was statistically insignificant against the volume of coffee sold. Retro Report gives the defense figure as about one burn per 24 million cups. Knaff was paid $15,000 for his work on the case. • Issue: Expert testimony; punitive damages. • Relevance: Jurors later pointed to this line of defense in explaining the award (see entry for 1 Sep 1994). • Date: During trial, 8 to 17 August 1994.
Verdict: McDonald's 80% at fault; $200,000 compensatory, $2.7 million punitive
The jury found for Plaintiff. It assigned 80% of the fault to McDonald's and 20% to Plaintiff, and found the warning on the cup inadequate. Compensatory damages of $200,000 were reduced by Plaintiff's share of fault to $160,000. The jury added $2.7 million in punitive damages, about two days of McDonald's coffee revenue at roughly $1.35 million a day, the measure Plaintiff's counsel had proposed. • Issue: Verdict; comparative fault; punitive damages. • Total: $2.86 million. • Record: 1995 WL 360309 (N.M. Dist. Ct. Aug. 18, 1994).
First press reports compress the story to as few as 48 words
The Albuquerque Journal ran the first story, at 697 words. The Associated Press version ran to 349 words, and some metropolitan papers printed as few as 48. Many accounts said Plaintiff had been driving with the cup between her legs. • Issue: Media; public perception. • Date: The AP wire story is dated 18 August 1994. The Journal's publication date is not in the sources reviewed.
Day after verdict: coffee at the same restaurant measured at 158°F
A local reporter tested coffee at the McDonald's where Plaintiff had bought hers and recorded 158°F, below the 180 to 190°F range in the operations manual. • Issue: Post-verdict conduct. • Source note: Single secondary source. Not independently confirmed.
Jurors explain the verdict to The Wall Street Journal
Jurors described how their view of the case changed during trial. The foreman, Jerry Goens, said he had begun the trial doubting that a coffee spill needed a jury. Juror Betty Farnham said "there was a person behind every number," and that McDonald's was not giving those numbers enough weight. Juror Jack Elliott said he went home and told his family not to drink hot coffee in the car. • Issue: Punitive damages; jury reasoning. • Source note: The original article was not reviewed directly. The quotations are taken from secondary sources that cite it.
15 Sep 1994 (AP report): new trial denied; punitive damages remitted to $480,000
Judge Scott denied McDonald's motion for a new trial and described its conduct as "callous." He reduced punitive damages to $480,000, three times the net compensatory award, for a total judgment of $640,000. • Issue: Remittitur; ratio of punitive to compensatory damages. • Arithmetic: $160,000 compensatory plus $480,000 punitive equals $640,000. The punitive award was cut by about 82%. • Date: Reported by the Associated Press on 15 September 1994. Public Citizen places the announcement a few days after trial; FindLaw, about a month after. The order date is not in the sources reviewed.
Confidential settlement while appeals were pending
Both sides appealed. Before the appeals were decided the parties settled on confidential terms, reported by the Albuquerque Journal on December 1, 1994 and by The Wall Street Journal on December 2. McDonald's required that the details be kept confidential. The amount was not disclosed. CourtDocket reports it as widely reported to be under $600,000; Retro Report cites a source placing it under $500,000. • Issue: Settlement; confidentiality. • Relevance: The case ended without an appellate opinion. The Seventh Circuit noted in 1998 that it produced no published opinion (see entry for 2 Jul 1998).
1995 (approx.): case cited in support of federal tort reform
During the Contract with America campaign, Republican lawmakers cited the case in promoting the Common Sense Legal Reform Act, describing it as "Exhibit A." • Issue: Legislative history; public perception. • Date: Approximate. The Contract with America legislative push ran from late 1994 into 1995.
April 1995: Plaintiff and her family respond to the coverage
Plaintiff told NBC's Dateline: "I was not in it for the money." An Associated Press story published on April 15, 1995 reported her daughter's view that the public had the wrong perception of her mother. • Issue: Media.
McMahon v. Bunn-O-Matic Corp. (7th Cir.): summary judgment for defendants affirmed at 179°F
Angelina McMahon was burned when coffee bought at a Mobil station mini-mart spilled into her lap in a car. The coffee maker held coffee at 179°F. In an opinion by Judge Frank Easterbrook, the Seventh Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the coffee-maker manufacturer and the cup suppliers. It held that the record would not let a reasonable juror find a design defect, and rejected the failure-to-warn claim because the plaintiffs knew coffee was hot and could burn. The opinion refers to Liebeck as a widely publicized verdict of some $3 million that produced no published opinion because it settled before appeal. • Issue: Subsequent case law (persuasive authority). • Source conflict: Wikipedia summarizes McMahon as finding 179°F coffee "not unreasonably dangerous." The opinion does not decide that question; it assumes it and rules on defect and warnings.
Bogle v McDonald's Restaurants Ltd (High Court of England and Wales): claims rejected
The High Court rejected a claim in England brought by customers scalded by hot drinks served at McDonald's restaurants. [2002] EWHC 490 (QB). • Issue: Foreign authority. • Source note: The judgment text was not reviewed directly; BAILII blocked automated access. Details of the claimants and the reasoning are omitted for that reason.
Plaintiff dies, aged 91
Stella Liebeck died on August 5, 2004, aged 91. Her daughter told the Albuquerque Journal in 2009 that the settlement had paid for a live-in nurse. • Issue: Use of settlement proceeds.
HBO premieres Hot Coffee, directed by Susan Saladoff
HBO broadcast Hot Coffee, a documentary by Susan Saladoff on tort reform. The film opens with the Liebeck case and uses it to examine how the case was reported and argued over. • Issue: Media; tort reform.
Retro Report and The New York Times revisit the case
A Retro Report documentary published with The New York Times reviewed the original coverage. It reported that McDonald's franchisee handbooks now require coffee to be held and served ten degrees lower. The Times reported a service range of 170 to 180°F. • Issue: Subsequent practice.