Regarding the hot coffee, I had seen some write ups going into details of that case.
The reason she got X amount of dollars for something so simple was because McD's had been chewed out by many people about the coffee being too hot (~180F I believe versus the recommended ~100-120F). I'm not a medical expert, but the idea is if its at 100F, it will be cooler and less likely to cause as much bodily damage then if its at 180F - which did cause major bodily damage.
The idea behind the case was:
Coffee was too hot - pointing to a difference that one temperature can cause a lot more damage than another temperature.
McD's acknowledged there was a problem (they had documents from people complaining) for at least 6 months to a year and they neglected to resolve it (which in theory should have been a simple solution).
So the woman got a lot of money out of it because it was to ding McD's for letting a problem like this to get neglected (basically, to set an example).
Although I'm not a lawyer...
Yes, people seem to be a bit tigger happy with the lawsuits here.
Another recent example that took place almost in my backyard was a woman won the lottery (something like $140+ million). Some other woman claimed she lost the ticket and filed suit. Claiming the other woman found her lost ticket and cashed it. In the end, the state and lottery commission determined the woman with the ticket rightfully won and it was suggested to the other woman to drop the suit or be prepared to listen to the state say she is in the wrong. She dropped the suit a few days later (the beauty was the news media dug up all sorts of nastiness this woman has done in her past so it was pretty hard to side with her and her lawsuit).
In general, I think:
- People tend to be idiots
- Lawyers are out to make a buck (gotta cover their living style and college loans)
- Companies can be idiots too (either when they sue or get sued)
- The news media love to report stuff that gets people wound up (news media are driven by ratings to get more money).
But thats my theory...
