Liebeck suffered permanent disfigurement after the incident and was partially disabled for two years. After the hospital stay, Liebeck needed care for three weeks, which was provided by her daughter. During this period, Liebeck lost 20 pounds (9.1 kg), nearly 20 percent of her body weight, reducing her to 83 pounds (38 kg). She remained in the hospital for eight days while she underwent skin grafting. She suffered third-degree burns on six percent of her skin and lesser burns over sixteen percent. Liebeck went into shock and was taken to an emergency room at a hospital. Liebeck was wearing cotton sweatpants, which absorbed the coffee and held it against her skin, scalding her thighs, buttocks and groin. In the process, she spilled the entire cup of coffee on her lap. She placed the coffee cup between her knees and pulled the far side of the lid toward her to remove it. Her grandson parked so that Liebeck could add cream and sugar to her coffee. Liebeck was in the passenger's seat of a 1989 Ford Probe, which did not have cup holders.

On February 27, 1992, Liebeck ordered a 49-cent cup of coffee from the drive-through window of a McDonald's restaurant at 5001 Gibson Boulevard Southeast in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She was 79 at the time of the burn incident. Stella May Liebeck was born in Norwich, England, on December 14, 1912. In June 2011, HBO premiered Hot Coffee, a documentary that discussed in depth how the Liebeck case has centered in debates on tort reform. Ex-attorney Susan Saladoff sees the portrayal in the media as purposeful misrepresentation due to political and corporate influence. It was cited by some as an example of frivolous litigation ABC News called the case 'the poster child of excessive lawsuits', while the legal scholar Jonathan Turley argued that the claim was 'a meaningful and worthy lawsuit'. The Liebeck case became a flashpoint in the debate in the United States over tort reform. The parties settled for a confidential amount before an appeal was decided. The trial judge reduced the punitive damages to three times the amount of the compensatory damages, totalling $640,000. They awarded Liebeck a net $160,000 in compensatory damages to cover medical expenses, and $2.7 million (equivalent to $5,000,000 in 2022) in punitive damages, the equivalent of two days of McDonald's coffee sales. The jury found that McDonald's was 80 percent responsible for the incident. Liebeck's attorneys argued that, at 180–190 ☏ (82–88 ☌), McDonald's coffee was defective, and more likely to cause serious injury than coffee served at any other establishment. District Court for the District of New Mexico, accusing McDonald's of gross negligence. When McDonald's refused, Liebeck's attorney filed suit in the U.S. Liebeck sought to settle with McDonald's for $20,000 to cover her medical expenses. She was hospitalized for eight days while undergoing skin grafting, followed by two years of medical treatment. The plaintiff, Stella Liebeck (1912–2004), a 79-year-old woman, suffered third-degree burns in her pelvic region when she accidentally spilled coffee in her lap after purchasing it from a McDonald's restaurant. McDonald's Restaurants, also known as the McDonald's coffee case and the hot coffee lawsuit, was a highly publicized 1994 product liability lawsuit in the United States against the McDonald's restaurant chain. and McDonald's International, Inc.ġ994 Extra LEXIS 23 ( Bernalillo County, N.M. For similar uses, see Hot Coffee (disambiguation).

Nbme 17 first degree burn