By: Robert Harris
We've all heard about the lady at the drive through McDonalds who got an award of millions of dollars from a jury for her coffee burns. While most plaintiff personal injury lawyers know the underlying facts that make sense of the verdict and the subsequent settlement, that case continues to haunt plaintiff lawyers. And has become a wealth of propaganda for big business and politicians who want to stop victims from accessing courts.
A new HBO documentary about the case airs tonight. You will learn, poor Ms. Stella Liebeck was severely injured. She was only asking for her medical bills to be paid and it was a jury that awarded the punitive damages after hearing the facts. How McDonalds purposefully overheated their coffee to a scalding temperature so it would last longer and they could sell more. That the verdict was eventually reduced by the Judge and a settlement was agreed to. The system worked quite well in this case.
You will also learn how big business has attempted to use that case, misrepresenting the facts, in order to deny victims of business fraud and misconduct their day in court. And how conservative politicians have misused the case and abuse the facts in their battle with the American Trial Lawyers, who are known far and wide as huge financial supporters of democrats. Take the trial lawyers out of the game, and you've just stuck a knife into democratic fund raising.
So here's the question. If a business injures you, or defrauds you, or cheats you, would you prefer to have a day in court, With a lawyer by your side where you can make your case to a jury of your peers uncontaminated by campaign donations and back room deals? Or would you rather trust your Congressman to make sure that big business treats you fairly. You may not have access to the front, or more importantly the back, door of your legislators office, no one should be able to stop you from having access to the front door of the Courthouse.
