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.

  • AnonTwo@kbin.social
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    10 months ago

    It’s pretty screwed up how the media made light of this lawsuit.

    A lawsuit that ended in gross negligence, and the media shamed the lady involved for a decade.

      • SSX@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        This is ultimately why I hate capitalism.

        These corporations spend tons more money fighting against stuff than they do paying it out. The woman wanted her hospital bills paid, that was it. Instead, they go to town spending so much money with the intent to misinform and spread propaganda than just paying it.

        Many of these large employers do the same with unemployment cases and on-site work injuries. Spending more time and money doing fuck all than just paying it out like the greedy pigs they are.

      • I_Fart_Glitter@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        My mom broke her tooth on a small stone in some cereal while all that was swirling around the collective consciousness. She wouldn’t sue because she “didn’t want to be like the McDonald’s lady.” The dentist wasn’t even suggesting to sue for some kind of “pain and suffering” money, just literally the $1500 it cost to fix the tooth.

      • Steeve@lemmy.ca
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        10 months ago

        There’s no evidence to suggest that they paid to spread disinformation, that would be massively illegal and open them up to way more lawsuits. Ragebait has just always been popular.

    • Alien Surfer@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      It’s pretty scary how media can influence us so much, even when we think they aren’t, and even when we think “only dumb people fall for it.” No my friend, the majority fall for it. Not cause they’re dumb, but because they’ve scienced the hell out of human nature and know precisely how to do it right under our noses. It started with marketing and advertising that works well, unfortunately. They’ve cracked the psyche code. Media adopted it. Big tech improved it. Gah… this is turning into a rant about capitalism; I didn’t intend to go there. Eek.

      • BearOfaTime@lemm.ee
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        10 months ago

        We ALL fall for it, just not all the same things at the same time.

        That’s what’s so insidious. I’m sat here thinking “you rubes, I read into the details right away, and knew something was off about the story”. So then I have to ask myself, “ok, smartass, what are you falling for that you think you know”.

        Its just so damn insidious.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      I’m just glad for her that almost no one knows her name. Can you imagine the doxxing and death threats she would be getting if this happened today?

    • Sprokes@lemmy.ml
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      10 months ago

      I even was thinking if that episode from Seinfeld not just a scheme pulled by McDonald’s.