Our justice system is way less impartial
than we like to think.
Adam, I'm serious!
Kendra's freedom is on the line.
Please stop scaring her.
Nope, I knew it.
The system
is gonna screw me.
They throw innocent
people in jail
while some old lady
who spills hot coffee
on herself gets
a million bucks.
Ah, yes,
the famous
McDonald's hot coffee
lawsuit.
That case was terrible,
but not for the reason
you think.
In fact, everything you've
heard about it is wrong.
(sighing)
Tell me,
what do you think
happened in that case?
So, there was
this greedy lady,
and she was all...
I want money.
My ethics are questionable.
So, she gets a coffee
at McDonalds,
but she's like...
I'm too dumb to know
that coffee is hot.
And she's driving
all crazy.
And she spills
a little on her lap.
(screams loudly)
Then she's all like...
Boo hoo!
I'm suing McDonalds!
I deserve money
for being stupid.
And now,
she's a millionaire,
and probably owns
the Clippers or whatever.
Oof! Sorry, all of that
is wrong--
the facts, the outcome,
and especially
that voice.
Hey!
A strong choice is better
than no choice at all.
Here's what actually
happened.
Stella Liebeck
was a 79-year-old woman
whose grandson drove her
to McDonalds.
She was in a parked car
holding hot coffee
in her lap
when it spilled.
Now, Stella openly admitted
that the spill was
her mistake,
but the results
were horrifying.
She had third degree burns
on her legs and genitals,
and she went into shock.
She had to undergo
painful skin graft operations,
and her surgeon said
it was one
of the worst cases
he had ever seen.
Stella was permanently
disfigured and nearly died.
Third degree burns?
How is that possible?
No one serves coffee
that hot.
You're right.
Only a clown would.
The reason Stella's injuries
were so severe
is that McDonalds
was serving coffee
at up to 190 degrees.
That's almost
boiling!
McDonalds themselves
even admitted that
at that temperature,
 their coffee was a hazard.
In fact,
in the decade prior,
over 700 people
notified McDonalds
that they had been burned
by their coffee.
Holy crow!
The real irony is,
Stella didn't even
want to go to court.
She just wanted McDonalds
to help pay
her $20,000 in out-of-pocket
medical expenses.
But after making her wait
for six months,
they only
offered her 800 bucks.
Stella tried to get McDonalds
to settle.
She even agreed to mediation.
But McDonalds
wouldn't budge.
They gave her no choice
but to go to court.
So when the jury heard
Stella's story,
they found that McDonalds
had acted so irresponsibly,
they had to be punished.
They burned 700 people?
This has gotta stop!
Let's fine them
two days' coffee sales.
That's 2.7 million.
That ought to teach 'em
a lesson.
It does.
Robble-robble.
And, it worked.
In the end, Stella settled
for less than 600 grand.
But that was enough
to get McDonalds
to lower their temperature
and stop burning people.
This was an incredibly
rare case where
a working-class victim
actually beat
a huge team
of corporate lawyers
and made the world
a better place.
Wow, how do I not
know about this?
Because those
corporate lawyers
are really good
at their jobs.
They spent years running
a disinformation campaign
to convince Americans
that there was
"an epidemic
of frivolous lawsuits."
And the media
bought it.
It seems she was holding a cup
between her legs 
 while driving.
Now she claims she
 broke her nose
on the sneeze guard
 at the Sizzler
bending over looking
 at the chickpeas.
You get me one coffee drinker
 on that jury,
you're gonna walk
 out of there a rich man.
(clicks tongue)
♪ Plasma getting bigger,
 Jesus getting smaller ♪
♪ Spill a cup of coffee,
 make a million dollars ♪♪
And because of
this false narrative,
the witch hunt against
"frivolous lawsuits"
continues to this day.
(all)
Coffee's hot, suing's not.
Lawsuits never
should be brought.
Coffee's hot,
suing's not.
Wow, they're really mad.
Except that
that anger is not real.
These protests have been
organized and sponsored
by large corporations.
Kendra, this Michael McCann,
he's a professor
of law and politics
at the University of Washington
and a co-author
of distorting the law.
Kendra,
for the last several decades,
large corporations
afraid of being sued
for making unsafe products
create front groups like
"Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse"
to try and turn public opinion
against lawsuits.
This included companies
like Pfizer and Texaco
and big tobacco companies
like Philip Morris.
Philip Morris?
Yeah, and by spreading
this false story,
they got everyone to believe
that silly lawsuits
were rampant.
And nothing could be
further from the truth.
The best social science evidence
shows that the number
of personal injury lawsuits
in recent decades has declined.
And the median payout
is only $55,000.
Uh-oh!
They smell the money.
I better get out of here. Bye.
Thanks, Michael.
These mother falcon companies
dragged an old lady
through the mud
so that we won't be able
to sue them anymore?
Yeah. This story is insane.
McDonalds had a policy
that almost killed someone
and it took Stella's lawsuit
to change it.
She should be considered a hero.
But because of the companies,
we treat her like a punch-line.
Okay, are you two done
talking about civil court cases?
Because Kendra's case
is in criminal court.
It's a completely
different system,
the one I happen to know
quite a bit about.
She has a great case
and a jury is gonna be
very responsive to it.
Oh, they're a ton of problems
with jury trials.
If you do another act,
I swear to gull...
Sorry, it's happening.
We'll be right back.
