j p o wrote:
Except she wasn't driving and the car wasn't moving.
What she DID do is misuse the lid of the cup. It has a little tab to pull open. You drink out of it and pour the cream into it. My understanding is she pulled the top completely off. That is not easy to do as the lid fits very tight. The cup most likely collapsed on her when she did that.
I don't think McD's made much of that argument so they may have thought their cup/lid combo would be accused of being poorly designed.
Just think, the jury most likely saw pictures of grandma's burnt out crotch. Next time you are getting all romantical with your partner, run that picture through your head.
A picture is definitely worth more than a thousand words. Once they got to damages, it was katy bar the door as I have seen a number of burns and they aint good. A visceral response is likely from a jury if they get passed the fact she should have secured it and it never should have spilled knowing how bad the result of a spill could be.
Moral of the story is be careful when dealing with hot items in vehicles. Or not and sue the pants off someone for your own negligence. Whatever floats your boat. Jackie childs would be proud...