Opinion ID: 2463565
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Reference to the McDonald's Coffee Case Was Improper

Text: ¶ 18 We grant both sides considerable latitude in their closing arguments. . . . to fully discuss from their perspective the evidence and all inferences and deductions it supports. Id. However, that latitude does not extend to counsel calling the jury's attention to material that the jury would not be justified in considering in its verdict. State v. Alonzo, 973 P.2d 975, 981 (Utah 1998). For example, comments meant to inflame passion or prejudice in the jury would be improper because they divert the jury from its duty to base its verdict on the evidence presented. See, e.g., State v. Alonzo, 932 P.2d 606, 615 (Utah Ct.App.1997) (explaining that the trial court may have properly limited counsel's reference to the Rodney King incident if it were an attempt to inflame the jury or suggest that because the Rodney King officers were found guilty, the officers in this case were also guilty of using excessive force), aff'd, 973 P.2d 975. ¶ 19 Here, during closing argument, Mr. Christensen's counsel referred to Mr. Boyle's requested pain and suffering damages and said the following: Ladies and gentlemen, they want a lot of money for this. A lot of money. What's been written on the board is called a per diem analysis. . . . How many days has it been since the accident? How many days for the rest of his life. And how much per day is that worth? That's what's been done here. That's how we get verdicts like in the McDonald's case with a cup of coffee. Mr. Boyle's counsel immediately objected that the reference to this case was prejudicial and . . . not in evidence. His objection was noted but overruled. ¶ 20 Before we analyze this statement, it may be useful to explain the cultural context of the McDonald's coffee case, more formally known as Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants, P.T.S., Inc. [5] Few cases have ever achieved as much notoriety among the general public of this country as the McDonald's coffee case, fueled by its wide-ranging and repeated publicity in national and local news media. It has been mocked in extremely popular entertainment television, including The Tonight Show, The Late Show, and Seinfeld. It has been debated on talk shows, parodied in television commercials, mentioned in congressional debates, and is firmly lodged in the public consciousness. Mark B. Greenlee, Kramer v. Java World: Images, Issues and Idols in the Debate over Tort Reform, 26 CAP. U.L.REV. 701, 702-03 (1997). What made the headlines and what is most commonly recalled by the general populace about the . . . case is the size of the verdict and the source of the injury$2.9 million for spilled coffee. Id. at 718. In U.S. popular culture, the case has come to symbolize greedy plaintiffs and lawyers who file frivolous lawsuits and win hugely excessive sums in a broken legal system. See, e.g., Peter G. Angelos, Commentary, 1996 Spring Commencement Speech, 27 U. BALT. L.F. 19, 21 (1996); Michael McCann, William Haltom & Anne Bloom, Java Jive: Genealogy of a Juridical Icon, 56 U. MIAMI L.REV. 113, 115 (2001). ¶ 21 Although the public view of the case is understandable when limited to a superficial view of its facts, a deeper look at the details and issues in the case may dramatically alter one's perspective. Among the many relevant facts generally missing from the public consciousness are the following: (1) The temperature of the spilled coffee was so hot180 to 190 degreesthat within seconds it caused third-degree burns that extended through the skin to the fat, muscle or bone on Ms. Liebeck's thighs, buttocks and groin area. She was hospitalized for eight days, underwent skin grafts, was disabled for two years following the accident, and was permanently disfigured with scars on over 16 percent of her body. See Greenlee, supra, at 718-19; see also Angelos, supra, at 21; Brian Timothy Beasley, North Carolina's New Punitive Damages Statute: Who's Being Punished, Anyway?, 74 N.C. L.REV. 2174, 2190 (1996). (2) The jury heard evidence that McDonald's had received approximately 700 other complaints about coffee-burn injuries in the previous decade (some of which were settled for a total outlay of over $500,000), but considered the number of injuries statistically insignificant and therefore did not lower the temperature of its coffee. See Marc Galanter, An Oil Strike in Hell: Contemporary Legends About the Civil Justice System, 40 ARIZ. L.REV. 717, 732 (1998); Greenlee, supra, at 719-22. (3) The jury awarded $2.7 million in punitive damages because it believed the extreme temperature of the coffee was unreasonably dangerous and that McDonald's had callously disregarded the danger even after hundreds of injuries. The $2.7 million figure was based on the approximate revenues from just two days of McDonald's coffee sales. Shari Seidman Diamond, Truth, Justice, and the Jury, 26 HARV. J.L. & PUB. POL'Y 143, 146-47 (2003). ¶ 22 Given the uniquely iconic nature of this case, the passion it has produced in the media, and the general misunderstanding of the totality of its facts and reasoning among the public, we find it hard to imagine a scenario where it would be proper for a party's counsel to refer to it before a jury. Generally, as here, such a reference would seem to have the sole purpose of recalling the public outrage over isolated elements of the casethus improperly appealing to a jury's passions. It is not the jury's job to make legal determinations, so no legal arguments from the case are relevant. The facts in the McDonald's coffee case were not in evidence before this jury and were also utterly irrelevant. Indeed, the one attempt counsel made to make her reference seem relevant was a misrepresentation because the high punitive damages award in the McDonald's coffee case had nothing to do with a per diem analysis. It is certainly unfair to require the other party to clarify all the misconceptions about this irrelevant case in the limited time allotted for closing argument. The great latitude provided in closing arguments regards reasonable inferences about evidence properly before the jury and does not extend to misrepresentations or efforts to appeal to a jury's passions. Thus the reference to the McDonald's coffee case in closing argument was improper.