On February 27, 2016, Bertha Hannah, a 79-year-old grandmother from Anytown, Michigan, ordered a 99-cent cup of coffee from the drive through window of a local Canteen's restaurant located at 5001 Gibson Boulevard. Canteen's is an internationally known, popular fast food restaurant that gained popularity for selling the greatest Hula Burger's ever. Canteen's is also known for selling its popular 'MEGA JOE' sized coffee - and Bertha had to have herself a MEGA JOE. Bertha's grandson did not order anything for himself, as young people are not fond of Canteen's. At the time of the events that gave rise to this lawsuit, Bertha Hannah was in the passenger's seat of a 2015 Ford Fiesta, which had a standard size cup holder of just under 3 inches in diameter and unable to house the MEGA JOE cup. Bertha's grandson (a kind young man of 16 and just learning to drive) parked the car in the Canteen's parking lot so that 2 Hannah could add cream and sugar to her coffee. Hannah placed the coffee cup between her knees and pulled the far side of the lid toward her to remove it. In the process, Bertha spilled the entire cup of coffee on her lap. Hannah was wearing cotton sweatpants and the pants absorbed the coffee and held it against her skin, scalding her thighs, buttocks, and groin. Hannah was taken to the hospital, where it was determined that she had suffered third-degree burns on six percent of her skin and lesser burns over sixteen percent. She remained in the hospital for eight days while she underwent skin grafting. During this period, Hannah lost 20 pounds (nearly 20% of her body weight), reducing her to 83 pounds. After the hospital stay, Hannah needed care for three weeks, which was provided by her daughter. Hannah suffered permanent disfigurement after the incident and was partially disabled for two years. The experts in this case all have testified about how hot coffee normally is served at fast food restaurants (between 135F to 150F) and that Canteen's coffee was 30F to 40F hotter than coffee served by other companies. Canteen's even admitted that 679 other people have reporting being burned by Canteen's coffee since 2010, yet the company has refused to change its policy of keeping coffee at between 180 and 190 degrees. The company argued, during closing arguments, that while its coffee has caused serious burns, in light of the fact it sells over a billion of cups of coffee annually (and records a profit on coffee sales of $10,000,000 per day) this number of burns was not significant. During the case, Hannah's attorneys put on evidence that Canteen's actually required franchisees to hold coffee at 180-190 F. Hannah's attorney argued that coffee should never be served hotter than 140 F, and that most other fast food establishments served coffee at a substantially lower temperature than Canteen's. The evidence shows that coffee all over Anytown was all served at a temperature at least 25F lower than what Canteen's served. Hannah's lawyers also presented you with expert testimony that 190F coffee may produce third-degree burns (where skin grafting is necessary) in about 3 seconds and 180F coffee may produce such burns in about 12 to 15 seconds. Lowering the temperature to 160 F would increase the time for the coffee to produce such a burn to 20 seconds. Hannah's attorneys argued that these extra seconds could provide adequate time to remove the coffee from exposed skin, thereby preventing many burns. Canteen's claimed that the reason for serving such hot coffee in its drive-through windows was that those who purchased the coffee typically were commuters who wanted to drive a distance with the coffee; the high initial temperature would keep the coffee hot during the trip. This argument seems to conflict with internal Canteen memos (presented to you) that Canteen's has done research which indicates that customers intend to consume the coffee immediately while driving. Other documents shown to you from Canteen's establishes that from 2010 to current, the company has received those 679 reports of people burned by Canteen's coffee to varying degrees of severity and had settled claims arising from scalding injuries. The largest settlement was for $1,000,000 paid to a teenager who had the coffee spill and burn her 3 hands. Canteen's quality control manager, Christopher Clueless, testified that this number of injuries was insufficient to cause the company to evaluate its practices. He argued and stated that "all foods hotter than 130F constitute a burn hazard, and that restaurants had more pressing dangers to worry about". The plaintiffs argued that Clueless' statement constitutes an admission that Canteen's coffee would burn the mouth and throat if consumed when served. Bertha's past medical expenses are $86,500; her anticipated future medical expenses are approximately $20,000; and her daughter's loss of income was approximately $15,000.

It is your turn to try your hand at being a judge. For reasons unknown, the parties to this case decided against asking for a jury. You will decide the outcome of the case. As most good judges will do, state the argument in favor of a finding of negligence on the part of the defendant and the argument against finding negligence on the part of the defendant. Ultimately, if you were the judge deciding this case, what would you decide? Why?