The textbook details the famous case involving hot coffee and McDonald's. State two reasons why this case was decided correctly. Now, take the opposite side. State two reasons why this case was decided incorrectly.
ethics ETHICS Issicm ormative moral Ouch! Mcdonald's Coffee Is Too Hot! McDonald's Corporation found itself embroiled in one of buttocks. Stella was driven to the emergency room and was the most famous negligence cases of modern times. Stella hospitalized for seven days. She required medical treatment Liebeck, a 79-year-old resident of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and later returned to the hospital to have skin grafts. She visited a drive-through window of a Mcdonald's restaurant suffered permanent scars from the incident. with her grandson Chris. Her grandson, the driver of the Stella's medical costs were $11,000. Stella asked vehicle, placed the order for breakfast. When breakfast Mcdonald's to pay her $20,000 to settle the case, came at the drive-through window, Chris handed a hot cup but Mcdonald's offered only $800. Stella refused this of coffee to Stella. Chris pulled over so that Stella could settlement and sued Mcdonald's in court for negligence put cream and sugar in her coffee. Stella took the lid for selling coffee that was too hot and for failing to off the coffee cup she held in her lap and the hot coffee warn her of the danger of the hot coffee it served. At spilled in her lap. The coffee spilled all over Stella, who trial, Mcdonald's denied that it had been negligent and suffered third-degree burns on her legs, thighs, groin, and asserted that Stella's own negligence-opening a hotcoffee cup on her lap-had caused her injuries. The jury Based on this evidence, the jury concluded that heard the following evidence: McDonald's acted recklessly and awarded Stella $200,000 . Mcdonald's enforces a quality-control rule that requires in compensatory damages, which was then reduced by its restaurants and franchises to serve coffee at 180 to $40,000 because of her own negligence, and $2.7 million 190 degrees Fahrenheit. in punitive damages. The trial court judge reduced the . Third-degree burns occur on skin in just two to five amount of punitive damages to $480,000, which was three seconds when coffee is served at 185 degrees. times the amount of compensatory damages. McDonald's . Mcdonald's coffee temperature was 20 degrees hotter now places a warning on its coffee cups that its coffee is than coffee served by competing restaurant chains. hot. Liebeck v. Mcdonald's Restaurants, P.T.S., Inc. (New . McDonald's coffee temperature was approximately 40 Mexico District Court, Bernalillo County, New Mexico, 1994) to 50 degrees hotter than normal house-brewed coffee. . Mcdonald's had received more than 700 prior complaints Ethics Questions Do you think that Mcdonald's properly of people who had been scalded by Mcdonald's coffee. warned Stella Liebeck of the dangers of drinking Mcdonald's . Mcdonald's did not place a warning on its coffee cups hot coffee? Do you think Mcdonald's acted ethically in offer- to alert patrons that the coffee it served was exception- ing Stella an $800 settlement? Was the award of punitive ally hot. damages justified in this case? Why or why not
