Is a multi-million dollar verdict unjust enrichment for an injured party, or a sufficient way to deter future misconduct? Should the government intervene and limit, through legislation, the amount an individual can recover in punitive damages? Or even for pain and suffering? Or everything? Some people believe the courts allow too many cases through the doors, while others believe tort reform to be another corporate benefit meant to protect profits and allow companies to cause harms while paying disproportionately small amounts for the damages they cause.
One of the most well-known tort cases, and the basis for much tort reform discussion, was the famous “Hot Coffee” McDonald’s case where a woman was awarded $2.9M after spilling coffee on herself in a car, claiming McDonald’s coffee was too hot. It quickly became a “hot” topic for ridicule on late night tv and other popular comedies.
Years later, plaintiffs’ rights advocates sought to combat this perception that was used as a springboard for tort reform.
A documentary was also done on the original case:
Hot Coffee (2011)We explore how the infamous McDonald’s hot coffee lawsuit sparked a big business propaganda and tort reform campaign, weakening civil justice.Tubi
Through your own, independent research, write an analysis of the case as well as your thoughts about the specific circumstances of the Hot Coffee case as well as tort reform in general.
Your paper should be no less than 3 pages in length. Lengthy spacing, enlarged font, increased margins, unnecessarily long headings, or other methods used to make the paper to appear to be two pages in length will not count toward the 3-page minimum. Your paper must address all of the questions above for the business you choose to investigate. Use proper APA formatting for your reference section and use proper APA citation for your in-text citations. Papers submitted with no references and no in-text citation for quotes and paraphrases will be denied credit, no exceptions.
