You think only in America will someone be crazy enough to pour coffee in her crotch and then sue McDonalds for selling hot coffee? Come to China for some real crazy. Chinese businessman Yuan Jiguang bought himself a Cadillac. If that wasn’t crazy enough, Mr. Yuang drove his Caddy into a truck. The airbags didn’t deem the collision severe enough to deserve deployment. Yuan Jiguang banged his nose on the windshield and ended up with a doctor’s bill of 989.89 yuan ($144.80). China’s doctors are cheap. Then Yuan Jiguang went to the local court in Jiangxi province. And whom did he sue?
GM for a severe case of whiplash? Think again. He filed a complaint against Olympic hurdler and gold medalist Liu Xiang, on the grounds that Liu Xiang had endorsed the Caddy. We are not making this up.
“Liu’s advert had a great influence on my choice of car,” Yuan told the New Legal Report (as related by Reuters). “I want to send a warning message to all the celebrities that they can not only focus on the payment and neglect their social responsibility and public trust.”
Now Mr. Yuan either completely lost his mind during the accident, or he’s so in tune with the times that he reckons that a Chinese jock celebrity has deeper pockets than GM. You decide.
If he wins, I’m going to buy a Buick and run it into a tree. Tiger Woods has lots of money! It will have to be an older model that was built while he was still endorsing them, of course.
I want to send a warning message to all the celebrities that they can not only focus on the payment and neglect their social responsibility and public trust.
Socialism *rolleyes* *sigh*
I’d laugh, but it’s kind of sad that this is where the world is heading. And i thought stupid law suits were an American phenomenon.
Whether his pockets are deeper or not (who knows), there’s no way Mr. Yuan will win. Even with Chinese courts.
It’s just plain silly that he will win.
He should be slapped just for the fact of thinking about getting that to a court. Even worse the guy that is the image on advertising and not the manufacturer.
How the hell do you bang your nose on the windsheild?
Perhaps someone wasn’t wearing a seatbelt?
I should crash my S550 into a brick wall and sue Dr. Z
Silly disputes are not a modern phenomenon.
Hell, making fun of a dudes hate would get you shot a couple hundred years ago and the shooter would have been applauded (at least in European aristocratic circles).
I consider it a badge of sophistication that our moronic disputes take place in a court instead of in a duel!
Ahh that eternal chestnut of the right-the “poured coffee into his/her lap” frivolous lawsuit.
I’m sure you’re thinking of the case of the older woman who ended up with third degree burns, spent considerable time in the hospital and had skin graft surgery.
Did you know that the coffee was at 180-190 degrees? That your home coffee maker operates at about 130 degrees? McDonalds even testified to the fact that it was unfit for consumption at that temperature. In fact no food should be served at that temperature because of the resultant third degree burns.
Did you know that up to the time of that case there had been over 700 complaints about burns from McDonalds coffee? McDonalds own research pointed to the fact that their coffee was far too hot, and yet they did nothing to fix it.
I don’t like frivolous lawsuits either but we have a system where everybody can have their day in court and either have a trial or get thrown out.
Even WaMu is going to get their chance to try and make the argument that they didn’t get enough when they sold their junk to JP Morgan. That’s the way it works.
Just say’n, end of rant.
You think only in America will someone be crazy enough to pour coffee in her crotch and then sue McDonalds for selling hot coffee?
Easy, bro.
Micky D offered free refills. Spending a huge bundle researching how to minimize this cost, the answer came back: the hotter the coffee, the less free refills.
Well, hell, lets serve it just this side of boiling!
Plaintiffs proved that coffee is sometimes spilled. Serving it at a temperature KNOWN to cause third-degree burns (the body is unable to heal these) to make a buck is outrageous conduct.
The jury did not rule McD was guilty of the coffee spilling. They ruled the temperature was an act of criminal negligence because of the temperature. McD and other establishments stopped serving scalding hot coffee.
The lady had many surgeries to repair the damage and continues to be ostracized. The Main Stream Press continues to poorly report the incident.
Yeah the more appropriate crazy lawsuit is the dude who tried to sue for a few million when his dry cleaner destroyed his pants and tried to fool him with a cheap replacement set.
I find everyone of the prior posters here to have cause me great anxiety. I’ve been in contact with my legal council. Each of you are subject to some letigation due to emotional distress. However, if you’d like to go ahead and settle, please feel free to contact me.
I want to send a warning message to all the celebrities that they can not only focus on the payment and neglect their social responsibility and public trust.
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WOW, Chinese really infringe copyrights everywhere, including President Obama’s speech.
Anyone who puts hot coffee next to the family jewels is in the wrong. Period. Now we get luke warm coffee with warnings in 4 languages on it telling us it’s SUPPOSED to be Hot enough to burn.
Chinese courts would take his side if he wasn’t successful enough to drive a caddy. But if he has pull/juice/favors with the local leadership he might get something out of it.
I do think this guy has a valid case.
If you promote a product and get paid, you are part of the company when the buyers make their decisions.
If the product fails, what wrong with the buyer suing the company? Remember the celebrity is part of the company, at the time of sale.
Of course, whether the product failed or it’s just improper use, is another story.
You guys laugh, but I’m betting there are a bunch of ambulance chasers that are just salivating at this “bold innovation” coming from China.
Yeah the more appropriate crazy lawsuit is the dude who tried to sue for a few million when his dry cleaner destroyed his pants and tried to fool him with a cheap replacement set.
No, the cleaners had MISPLACED the pants, found it, and even offered additional services gratis, but the guy (a judge, no less) went off the deep end and continued to up the ante.
The retard is no longer a judge, but I’ll bet he’s still “practicing” law somewhere.
Well, then I guess there is proof that there is an industry that is growing…. frivolous lawsuits in China.
I strongly suspect that the same thing would happen here in the US. It is called “deep pockets”, and when a company gets sued, they include everyone they can find in the suit. I’ve had plenty of friends who have worked or contracted for companies get named in civil suits and have to defend themselves for something they had nothing to do with. It seems to be par for the course to blast every possible party in a suit just to see if they offer you money to go away.
The Main Stream Press continues to poorly report the incident.
The main stream press continues to poorly report the trial lawyers excuse for the outrageous verdict despite a concerted effort by lawyers to cast the bad decision in the best possible light.
The plaintiff held a cup of hot coffee between her knees and pried the lid off. She could have leaned forward and held the cup over the foot well, but she was a moron. She deserved not a single cent.
If your home coffee maker operates at 130 degrees then you have a cheap and crappy machine. You might as well use hot tap water. Get yourself a decent machine because coffee needs a temperature around 200 degrees to properly brew and it should be held at 180 degrees after brewing.
Coffee spills. End of discussion of how or why. When it occurs, It should not permanently scar someone. That it was served at that temperature to cut refill costs was inexcusable. That it was served at that temperature to someone in a vehicle about to move (with little threat of asking for a refill) defies any rational explanation other than GUILTY! GUILTY! GUILTY!
Measure the highest temperature you prefer your coffee, tea, or hot chocolate. Use a Thermapen 5 NSF thermometer calibrated just seconds before by a certified technician using certified, calibrated…(Oh heck, see My Cousin Vinny for the full details).
My guess the number will be about 145 degrees and at 150 degrees and above you are putting off drinking it until it cools. Serving a beverage for human consumption at 40-50 degrees above this at a temperature KNOWN to cause severe burns is irresponsible and actionable. 12 people said so.
By the way, serving food unfit for human consumption is on the verge of getting wacked.
Don’t serve 3-4 days worth of sodium or sat fat in one meal and expect to be standing when the smoke clears. What, people have to go into the kitchen to watch how their meal is being prepared to keep from eating food KNOWN to be horrible to put into the human body?
What are these people thinking? If they are going to take over for people preparing their own meals, they’d better plan on living up to a higher standard than many are doing at the present.
It’s easier, cheaper, faster, and less involved to just throw fat and sodium at a dish than use herbs and spices to make a dish delicious.
Other than the obvious bacon on a burger, you have no way of knowing you are being poisoned by the salt and fat load.
Point by point refutation of the lawyers spin on the the McDonald’s coffee case:
http://overlawyered.com/2005/10/urban-legends-and-stella-liebeck-and-the-mcdonalds-coffee-case/#more-2712
Trial over ten minute.
What do you call 10,000 lawyers floating face down at the bottom of the ocean?
A start.
Having said that, the “Overlawering” website has an ax to grind of some sort and doesn’t mind shoveling it’s opinions as fact. Do not go there for an honest evaluation of the McD Coffee suit. You get cherry-picked bits that do not address the fact that serving scorching hot coffee is stupid, dangerous, and actionable. That is what was rulled on.
The reason Starbucks sells more coffee is because it is hotter than McDonalds.
Good Grief.
Brew your coffee at any temperature you want. My Bunn does it at 197 degrees. Serve it at 135 to 145 degrees, ready to drink. My Bunn does it at 143, just about the upper limit before it burns the roof of the mouth.
I cut myself with a kitchen knife once, should I have sued? Should the manufacturers now only make dull knives? I’m just asking.
Stingray :
March 25th, 2009 at 10:04 am
I want to send a warning message to all the celebrities that they can not only focus on the payment and neglect their social responsibility and public trust.
Socialism *rolleyes* *sigh*
TW4T! That’s capitalism on steroids.