A woman ended up being rewarded $2.7 million in an McDonald’s lawsuit after spilling coffee on her lap in a car park.
Back in 1992, Stella Liebeck was left severely burned after dropping the hot drink from the fast-food chain on her lap while in a car being driven by her grandson.
The coffee provided by McDonald’s was found to be dangerously hot, causing third-degree burns over 16 percent of Stella’s body.
Her inner thighs and even genitals were burned as the skin had burned away to the point where layers of muscle and fatty tissue were visible.
After the incident, Stella spent eight days in hospital and underwent countless treatment including skin grafts, which is ‘where healthy skin is removed from an unaffected area of the body and used to cover lost or damaged skin’, according to the NHS.
During her period in hospital, Stella is said to have lost around 20 pounds, which was nearly 20 percent of her body weight.
While Stella recovered in two years, a long legal battle with McDonald’s then played out in the public eye.
The customer initially offered to settle the case for $20,000, which would cover her health expenses and be a mere drop in the ocean for a company the size of McDonald’s.
However, the fast-food chain declined, instead offering Stella a measly $800 following the terrible ordeal she had to undergo.
The case ultimately went to trial in 1994, where the jury learned that 700 other people had been burned by hot drinks at McDonald’s.
Kenneth Wagner, the lawyer who represented Stella, said: “We knew, before the lawsuit was filed, that the temperature of the water was 190 degrees or so, and the franchise documents required that of the franchisee.
“Our position was that the product was unreasonably dangerous, and the temperature should have been lower.”
The case concluded with jurors offering Stella $200,000 in compensatory damages, which was reduced to $160,000.
Stella was also awarded $2.7 million in punitive damages, although that dropped to $480,000, and the settlement amount remained confidential.
Stella died in August 2004 aged 91, though her family stated her quality of life declined rapidly after the coffee incident and for the final years of her life.
Her daughter claimed Stella’s ‘burns and court proceedings [had taken] their toll’ on Stella and that she had ‘no quality of life’ following the conclusion of the trial.
