Junk Food (1960); Senate Bean Soup (1943); Chicken a la King (1911)

[Fred Shapiro]

On Tue, 26 Nov 2002, Baker, John wrote:

>         Although there are plenty of frivolous lawsuits out there (and I
> would include the junk food case among them, at least based on the media
> reports I've seen), I don't think the hot coffee case is one of them.

In fact the supposed outrageousness of the McDonald's case is an urban
legend.  McDonald's, as I understand it, kept their coffee at excessive
temperatures. much hotter than at other chains, so that it would not need
to be reheated for a long time.  A woman was badly burned as a result.

Although lawyers undoubtedly merit a variety of different kinds of
criticism, the anti-plaintiff stories that are spread by the "tort reform"
movement are motivated by powerful corporate interests, since large
corporations are typically defendants in tort cases.  Often the plaintiffs
are the only ones holding to account corporations who have committed the
most heinous environmental and other transgressions.  If you're an
environmentalist, you probably should be an enemy of tort reform.  Tort
reform also fits into a large Republican agenda that encompasses, in the
long run, trashing Medicare and Social Security as well as environmental,
health and safety regulation, as well as letting Enron-like corporate
abuses go unchecked.  Unfortunately the Democrats too seem to be going
along with much of this.

Fred Shapiro


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Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
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  Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press,
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