Oh yeah? Well, I've fallen and I can't get up!

Seriously, if this goes to court, I would not consider it a frivilous lawsuit like the woman who drove her car with a cup of McDonald's coffee in her lap. Unlike that case, this was not something obvious or improper use of the product.

That's kinda a sad way to get stuck to the floor.

Actually, didn't that woman receive some serious burns to her thighs as a result of some extremely hot coffee?? I thought there was some finding that the coffee was pretty much "dangeriously" hot.

and

"... Unlike that case, this was not something obvious or improper use of the product."

I would think improper use of products is a reason why some of these lawsuit are frivilous.

I do agree that she didn't do anything wrong on her part.. just a freak accident. And the vendor seemed to have responded accordingly by offering to pay for her aid.

My point was that the woman didn't use the product improperly and that it wasn't something people could reasonably expect the product to do - let alone warned about on the label. Thus, despite the fact that 3M was willing to pay for aid doesn't (and shouldn't) make it immune from a potential lawsuit.

Which doesn't necessarily mean that this woman should file a lawsuit.

True about McDonald's coffee, though. But people expect coffee to be extremely hot so it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that spilling it on your lap could lead to severe burns.

1. She was in the passenger seat
2. The car was at a complete stop.
3. The coffee was served at tempatures to high to even safely drink.

She was holding it between her legs. I call that a stupid thing to do.

yes it is stupid... but so is a girl walking in a dark alley late at night... if she gets raped does it make it a frivelous rape trial?

Now hold on. It's not like McDonalds raped her. The examples are completely different. The rape scenario is where the person put herself in a position to be taken adavantage of by another person - that other person is definitely still liable. In the McDonalds scenario, McDonalds put the lady initially in a position where something bad could happen to her (too hot coffee). Order is important here. If someone walks into a construction zone and gets hurt by a falling brick, should the construction company be sued? What if the construction company gave the lady the okay to walk in a part of the construction zone and then got hurt? Well in that case the construction company could very well be liable. But when inadvert accidents happen, it (should) matter who initiates the problem.

The rape example is frivolous in this case because the actual problem in the scenario is that a crime was comitted. In the construction examples, there is no crimes, just accidents. When you do harm intentionally to another human being, you're going to get prosecuted and (hopefully) justice will be done.

When do you ever get coffee that's the right temperature to drink straight away? The way its made (you know with boiling water) means you have to wait. Not rocket science. So you get this nice hot coffee (anything else is lukewarm and assumed to be stale/reheated) and assume that a thin polystyrene cup will prevent all heat transfer between your legs. Then you win a law suit.

Thankfully not quite that bad in the uk yet.

And a girl walking in a dark alley late at night is not stupid, provided there are no criminally minded people around. That's like saying its stupid to walk around your house without a weapon on the assumption that there's no-one around that's going to knife you.

You compare someone spilling coffee on themselves to someone getting raped? Is that an extreme difference or what?!?

I normally don't defend these sort of things but in this case I would sue also.

What?!? It IS on there! Hello, its glue that is meant to seal your skin. How could one possibly think that it wouldn't stick to other stuff as well. This lady has no suit.

Glue? Where do they call it skin GLUE?

http://www.3m.com/us/home_leisure/n...dagedrops.jhtml

whatever... don't try to hold me down with your "logic"

Ok, I cut myself on a knife in our sink last night. Can I sue the knife company because they made a knife that cuts human flesh?

McFact No. 1: For years, McDonald's had known they had a problem with the way they make their coffee - that their coffee was served much hotter (at least 20 degrees more so) than at other restaurants.

McFact No. 2: McDonald's knew its coffee sometimes caused serious injuries - more than 700 incidents of scalding coffee burns in the past decade have been settled by the Corporation - and yet they never so much as consulted a burn expert regarding the issue.

McFact No. 3: The woman involved in this infamous case suffered very serious injuries - third degree burns on her groin, thighs and buttocks that required skin grafts and a seven-day hospital stay.

McFact No. 4: The woman, an 81-year old former department store clerk who had never before filed suit against anyone, said she wouldn't have brought the lawsuit against McDonald's had the Corporation not dismissed her request for compensation for medical bills.

McFact No. 5: A McDonald's quality assurance manager testified in the case that the Corporation was aware of the risk of serving dangerously hot coffee and had no plans to either turn down the heat or to post warning about the possibility of severe burns, even though most customers wouldn't think it was possible.

McFact No. 6: After careful deliberation, the jury found McDonald's was liable because the facts were overwhelmingly against the company. When it came to the punitive damages, the jury found that McDonald's had engaged in willful, reckless, malicious, or wanton conduct, and rendered a punitive damage award of 2.7 million dollars. (The equivalent of just two days of coffee sales, McDonalds Corporation generates revenues in excess of 1.3 million dollars daily from the sale of its coffee, selling 1 billion cups each year.)

McFact No. 7: On appeal, a judge lowered the award to $480,000, a fact not widely publicized in the media.

McFact No. 8: A report in Liability Week, September 29, 1997, indicated that Kathleen Gilliam, 73, suffered first degree burns when a cup of coffee spilled onto her lap. Reports also indicate that McDonald's consistently keeps its coffee at 185 degrees, still approximately 20 degrees hotter than at other restaurants. Third degree burns occur at this temperature in just two to seven seconds, requiring skin grafting, debridement and whirlpool treatments that cost tens of thousands of dollars and result in permanent disfigurement, extreme pain and disability to the victims for many months, and in some cases, years.

My grandfather used to use superglue for this very purpose; he, like this woman, had fissures in the skin on his feet and he would superglue them back together. No, I'm not kidding. I don't know if he does anymore, or if he uses something like this instead.

That said, there should be a better warning, I suppose. Yes, it's common sense that this stuff would be sticky, but I can imagine parents using this stuff on kids who might now know any better.

The McDonald's suit was ridiculous. There is no mention of a suit for this case, but it would have somewhat more merit.

Nice response. Anyway, I agree with your point on McDonalds as is. They were boiling the water beyond a safe level. The company is liable for that. McDonalds would have saved themselves a lot of greif if they would have just paid for the operation outright instead of letting it go to trial.

Why? Its not like 3M was putting out a dangerious product. And they already offered to help. Now, as BasketofPuppies mentioned, this doesn't clear them of further responsibilities (i.e. add more warnings or something), but what would be your motive to sue.... other than to make some $$ off of a freak accident.

Who knows - maybe it reacted to a cleaning agent that she used....

Wouldn't she have died then with a smile on her face like in this great movie?



I would post an image of the actual scene, but google images can't find it

hmm. It doesnt say anywhere that the stuff has adhesive quality.

Still not worth a law suit though.

isn't one of the requisites for a third degree burn charred skin?

"The problem with America is stupidity. I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?"

Ya, I think all the stuff is though is crazy glue.

Hmmm... I can't seem to find the origins of that quote, but it really sounds like a good idea. Especially take away the warnings about not to be consumed and should not be used with certain other products - that's definitely a winning ticket.

Oh come on, everyone knows bash!

Surely she means..

"I am embarrassed," she said. "I am an idiot who glued myself to the floor."

I broke a tooth on a Burger King burger once.

I Didn't sue.

Do you still wake up in the middle of the night and curse your missed opportunity?