Of all the frivolous lawsuits out there, the McDonalds lawsuit for too hot coffee is one I feel that when you look at the facts, it makes you wonder what was McDonalds doing. While I don't eat breakfast at McD's often, I will always also get some ice because the coffee is scalding. It is not hot, it is scalding. If I take off the lid, by the time I am finished with my breakfast, I still can't drink it, even if I have stirred it many times. We may laugh at the old lawsuit, but it had some basis. Seriously, I stopped ordering coffee at McD's because I knew it would be wasted. I don't understand their marketing decision to make scalding coffee.

Richard,

I tend to agree. Indeed, I purposefully linked the 'Lectric Law Library summary of the case because it does a good job of explaining the background--and the fact that damages were substantially reduced later in the process.

My understanding was that most people who got their coffee at the drive through didn't actually drink it until later and then bitched that it was too cold.

The Burger King on my base in Germany also served ridiculously hot coffee--and they didn't even have a drive through. It was so hot that you had to put ice in if you wanted to add cream, otherwise it would instantly curdle. No, I'm not exaggerating. And I burned my tongue once. Rather than suing BK, I just started adding ice or waiting for it to cool down.