The general facts of the case Stella Liebeck, a 79-year-old woman from Albuquerque, New Mexico bought a cup of coffee from a local McDonald’s restaurant (Ralph & Wesley 268). Liebeck went to her car at the restaurant’s parking to prepare the coffee and drink. In the process, she had placed the cup of coffee between her knees while attempting to open the lid to allow her to pour sugar plus cream into it (Bloom, Haltom & McCann 13). The coffee spilled on her lap causing serious burns on her buttocks, thighs as well as groin (Ralph & Wesley 268). This happened on 27 th February 1992. The coffee had been heated to 190 F which was far much above the point at which other restaurants boiled their coffee (160 F) (Cain 9). When she was rushed to the hospital, it was found out that she had suffered third-degree burns on 6% of her skin as well as another 16% to a lesser degree (Ralph & Wesley 268). She suffered serious burns since she had won cotton sweatpants which had absorbed the hot coffee (Cain 4). As a result, she had to undergo skin grafting which cost her close to $20,000 in medical bills. In addition, she lost 9 kg of her body weight in eight days of hospitalization (Gerlin 4). This was followed by 2 years of medical treatment. However, when she contacted McDonald’s to help her pay part of the bill of about $20,000, McDonald’s declined (Gerlin 1). Instead, McDonald’s blamed her for her injuries arguing that she could not have placed the cup of coffee between her knees and that she could have taken off her pants on time. McDonald’s claimed that her age contributed greatly to her injuries since older people normally have thin skin. Filing of the case When McDonald’s refused to pay the $20,000 in medical bill and loss of income only offering to pay $800, Liebeck retained Reed Morgan, a Texas attorney (Cain 5-6). Morgan filed a lawsuit against McDonald’s at New Mexico District Court accusing the company of gross negligence in selling unreasonably dangerous as well as defectively manufactured coffee to Liebeck. Morgan claimed that the coffee served to Liebeck was excessively hot as compared to coffee served in other restaurants and that that was the major cause of Liebeck’s injuries (Gerlin 4). However, McDonald’s maintained that Liebeck was to be blamed for the injuries claiming that she could have mitigated the impacts by not placing the cup of coffee between her knees and taking off her pants as fast as possible. Trial The trial began on the 8 th of August 1994 and ended on the 17 th of the same month. Liebeck’s attorneys found out that it was McDonald’s policy to serve coffee to customers at high temperatures of 180-190 0 F (Cain 9). They argued that at that temperature, it was possible to suffer third-degree burns within 12-15 seconds if the coffee served at that temperature spills on the skin, and this would call for skin grafting to heal (Cain 9). McDonald on their part had argued that they served coffee at that temperature to meet the needs of customers who wanted to drive for some distance with the coffee (Cain 10). Jury’s verdict The verdict was made on the 18 th of the same month. The jury established that McDonald’s was 80% responsible for Liebeck’s injury while the remaining percentage was the fault of the plaintiff (Cain 14). The jury reached that though the coffee cup had a warning on it; it was not enough to prevent injuries. The jury found McDonald