During the trial it was revealed that McDonald’s knew that heating their coffee to this temperature would be dangerous, but they did it anyways because it would save them money. When you serve coffee that is too hot to drink, it will take much longer for a person to drink their coffee, which means that McDonald’s will not have to give out as many free refills of coffee. This policy by the fast food chain is the reason the jury awarded $2.7 million dollars in punitive damages in the McDonald’s hot coffee case. Punitive damages are meant to punish the defendant for their inappropriate business practice.

  • superseven@feddit.deEnglish
    22·
    1 year ago

    I have to admit that i didn’t expect that not boiling water could do so much damage.

    • JustZ@lemmy.worldEnglish
      25·
      1 year ago

      She was wearing jeans. The superheated water absorbed into the fabric, and held it right against her skin. Part of the case was that McDonald’s knew it was handing these cups of near-boiling water down, into vehicles, in which people were restrained. It made their conduct more negligent.

      I had a soda spill on me once at a drivethrough. Everyone in the drive through business surely knows that things spill, down, onto customers.