How Hot Is to Hot?

Every morning when I wake up I must have my coffee. Coffee is how I like to get my day started. It helps me get over that morning tiredness and kicks my day into gear. I put liquid creamer into my coffee with no sugar. I can't drink my coffee right away otherwise I burn my tongue all the time.

After oil, coffee is the next leading commodity in the world. Around 79% of Americans are coffee drinkers. Coffee drinkers have around three to four cups a day. That would equal to 330 million cups of coffee a day!

On February 27, 1992, a 79 year old lady name Stella Liebeck, from Albuquerque New Mexico, ordered a cup of coffee from the drive-through window at a local McDonalds Restaurant. She was in the passenger seat of her nephew Chris's car. Chris parked the car in the parking lot while his Auntie Stella put cream and sugar in her cup of coffee. As she put the coffee cup between her knees and was attempting to remove the coffee lip she spilled the full sup of coffee onto her lap. The coffee had quickly absorbed through her pants and had scorched her thighs, butt and genital areas

Mrs. Leibeck was taken to the nearest hospital where she was had obtained with third-degree burns on six percent of her skin and 16% of her skin had less than third degree burns. While her eight day stay of going through skin graphing, Leibeck lost a total of 20 % of her body weight which brought her down to 83 pounds. She also had to go under medical therapy for two years following the procedure.

Stella Leibeck was suing The McDonald Franchise for $20,000 to recover her current and future medical expenses and also her loss of income. McDonalds attorneys offered Leibeck only $800. That is when Leibeck realized that she needed a lawyer to help win her case. She hired Texas attorney, Reed Morgan. Once Morgan was Leibeck's attorney he went to the New Mexico District Court accusing McDonalds of "unreasonably dangerous" and "defectively manufactured". McDonalds then put an offer on the table to $90,000 and Morgan declined it. He later moved the settlement up to $300,000 but a mediator recommended $225,00 and McDonalds refused it once again.

Once they went to trial with Judge Robert H. Scott, Liebeck's attorneys learned that McDonald's restaurants would serve their coffee at 180-190 degrees Fahrenheit. When coffee is that hot, it would cause third-degree burns within seconds.

Morgans argument included if you keep coffee at 180 degrees Fahrenheit would cause third -degree burns in 12 to 15 seconds. If they lowered the temperature to 160 degrees Fahrenheit it would take 20 seconds to cause severe burns. When you brew coffee at home, it is typically served around 135 to 140 degree Fahrenheit. Leibeck's attorneys argues that these extra seconds would give a person time to remove the coffee before exposing skin to burn extremely. McDonalds claim for why they served such hot coffee in its drive-through window was for people who