Hot Coffee
"Hot Coffee," the HBO documentary has been stirring up quite a dialogue around the country and about our system of civil justice in the United States. The film attacks and breaks down the myths associated with the McDonald's hot coffee case and accurately tells the story of the burn injuries suffered by Stella Liebeck. It puts a fresh spotlight on other threats to our access to the courts. The film shows the human costs to the rights we are losing because of caps on damages, pervasive uses of binding arbitration clauses and other types of clauses in consumer contracts,as well as corporate control and influence in judicial campaigns.The film has won numerous awards.
The McDonald's coffee case has been routinely cited by the media as an example of how citizens have supposedly taken advantage of the legal system. The movie shows how the case became popular in the media, who funded the media efforts and and why. (Can you say big business, insurance companies, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the far right?). Ultimately is shows that spilling boiling hot coffee and otherwise sustaining serious injuries due to another's negligence is anything but a cakewalk though our legal system.
I urge anyone who has not seen it to watch the movie.
