Coffee

These are the facts of the McDonalds hot coffee case. I had my facts wrong before; here are the correct ones:

1. The woman was 79 years old.

2. She spilled the coffee on her thighs and suffered 3rd degree burns (i.e. flesh-deep) over 6% of her body. She had to have multiple skin grafts and stayed in the hospital for weeks.

3. McD's coffee is served at 180-190 deg. F; normal homemade coffee is about 130-140 deg F. At 180F, liquids can cause 3rd degree burns when the contact lasts 3-3.5 seconds. At 150F, the contact period before serious burns occur becomes 30-40 seconds.

4. Contrary to what I (and many others) had assumed, the warning that comes on the cup of coffee now was not a result of this lawsuit. This woman's case rested on the fact that "Caution: contents hot" is an inadequate warning because most people don't know that spilling this coffee can cause 3rd degree burns in an instant.

5. McD's coffee is still served at this temp (except in the hometown of this woman) because it is thought to be the optimal temperature to release the aroma. McD admits that drinking coffee at this temperature will definitely cause serious damage to the palate and throat. Their entire defence in this case rested on two grounds: that customers wanted the coffee to be aromatic, and that it's 'obvious' that no one should drink the coffee immediately after buying it from the counter.