She had third degree burns on her genitals, needed a skin graft to repair the damage and was permanently disfigured, and left disabled for two years. Part of her original $20,000 claim was for her daughter's lost income while she cared for her. Also, there were 700 previous complaints of people being burned by McDonald's coffee, which they quietly paid off. They offered Liebeck $800.
Stella Liebeck was 79 years old at the time of the incident, and the settlement helped her pay for a live-in nurse as she was partially disabled for two full years after being so badly burned she went into shock. She passed away in 2004 with little to no quality of life per her own daughter. She originally sought $20,000 dollars to cover her eight day hospital stay (including skin graphs) and compensation for her daughter's lost wages after she spent three weeks providing round-the-clock care.
Incidently, liquids served at 190 degrees is capable of causing third degree burns--which cause severe, permanent damage all the way to the muscle layer--within 3 seconds of contact with human skin. If you have a strong stomach, you can even find photographic evidence of her wounds with a quick google search. This didn't stop almost every major news outlet perpetuating MacDonald's coordinated smear campaign against her. MacDonalds' justification for this was basically, well, all fast food is hot and we have better things to worry about. Literally. This deliberately manufactured overly litigious gold digger stereotype is still remembered today via the Stella Awards, which mocks all the "frivolous" lawsuits against your favorite brands. Named after a little old lady who was permanently disfigured and handicapped from a ridiculously dangerous product.
Classy.
Never, ever take a corporation's side over a private citizen when lawsuits are involved.
She eventually died under the care of a live-in nurse from infection complications due to the fact that the damage had to be treated repeatedly over multiple years. While being mocked *worldwide* and constantly hassled by the media. The last few years of this woman's life were a miserable hell because McDonald's was too cheap to pay her medical costs when she asked.
Not just that--the last few years of her life were miserable because McDonald’s was too cheap to throw away old coffee.
Everyone should watch the documentary Hot Coffee. Starts out with a pretty thorough explanation of the McDonald's vs. Liebeck incident & case, then dives into how the idea of the ~perpetual victim who wants to sue everyone and get free money with frivolous lawsuits~ is a myth and that tort reform has made it harder for people with actual harm done to them to get compensation for it.
