On a chilly February morning in 1992, 79-year-old Stella Liebeck ordered a 49-cent cup of hot coffee from a McDonald's drive-through. When she opened the top to add cream and sugar, the flimsy cup spilled 190-degree coffee into her lap, resulting in excruciatingly painful 3rd degree burns.

Mrs. Liebeck sued for gross negligence, asking McDonald's to improve their cups, lower the temperature of their dangerously hot coffee, and pay her $20,000 worth of medical bills; McDonald's countered with...$800. After a week-long trial, the jury found McDonald's responsible and awarded Mrs. Liebeck two days' worth of the fast-food giant's coffee sales, a sum of $2.7 million. No, the Golden Arches never paid her the full sum, and the press had a field day with "Woman Spills Hot Coffee, Wins Millions" stories.

On this highly caffeinated episode, we're looking into coffee safety, burn lawsuits, tort reform, and how hot you should really be drinking your morning beverage.

Love the show? Support us on Patreon, at ⁠www.patreon.com/RelativeDisastersPodcast⁠.

Sources for this episode:

The McDonald’s Hot Coffee Case from Consumer Attorneys of California

McDonalds' Hot Coffee Case - Read the Facts NOT the Fiction

Liebeck v. McDonald’s: The Hot Coffee Case by Allison Torres Burtka

The Truth Behind the Infamous McDonald’s Hot Coffee Case by A.J. Serafini

And Now, The Rest of the Story by Kevin G. Cain

Stella Liebeck vs. McDonald’s Restaurants by Elizabeth Gam