Remember the McDonald’s coffee case? Of course you do. It was the personal injury case in which that woman got millions of dollars, and…well, wait. Actually, the verdict was reduced to $480,000.
But still, you might say–half a million dollars for spilling hot coffee on yourself? Hasn’t that happened to all of us? Fortunately, though, most of us haven’t sustained 3rd degree burns to very personal areas as a result of those spills (probably because we don’t keep our coffee at 185 degrees!).
Nearly 15 years after the media hype about a woman who got millions of dollars for spilling coffee in her lap (who was, in fact, a woman who got $480,000 dollars after spending eight days in the hospital receiving skin grafts for third degree burns), a New York jury has returned a verdict of $300,000 in favor of a Manhattan woman after a Starbucks barista dumped a cup of hot coffee on her foot.
The court has already scheduled a hearing on the company’s argument that the award is “excessive”, and it seems likely that it will be reduced. That probably won’t make headlines. However, if the court determines that the award wasn’t excessive–that $300,000 isn’t an outrageous award to a woman who sustained permanant nerve damage in her foot, experiences constant numbness and tingling, can’t wear certain kinds of shoes and boots, and has had to give up lifelong leisure activities like ballet–then we’ll undoubtedly be hearing more about the case.