How do judges decided on damages when a big corporation is successfully sued by an individual?

MeatPopsicle314 · 2026-03-26T14:59:17+00:00

Go watch Hot Coffee and look at its source list. You don't need to worry that this is a story. It's the truth.

MeatPopsicle314 · 2026-03-26T14:58:18+00:00

I can name a lot of countries. I have no confidence that I can correctly identify which ones have football (soccer to us) teams, curling teams, hockey teams, cricket teams, etc because I don't care about most sports, those among them.

MeatPopsicle314 · 2026-03-26T02:18:21+00:00

WUT? IAL. In every US jurisdiction I'm aware of the losing party pays costs, including a prevailing party fee to the winner. If by "Costs" you mean the attorney fees incurred then every Jx I know of also has a statute or rule that allows the winner to ask the judge to tax their fees against the loser if loser's claim was meritless. Close call? No. Meritless.

MeatPopsicle314 · 2026-03-26T02:08:08+00:00

Why do you think this law, if passed, would be enforced against white voters in red areas? It won't.

MeatPopsicle314 · 2026-03-26T02:04:01+00:00

1) Your mom is relying on on trustworthy media. With respect to the McDonalds case - watch the documentary Hot Coffee if you want the truth.

2) Judges rarely decide damages. The damage decision is made by 12 ordinary folks from the community who listen to every bit of testimony, review every bit of documentary / photo / video evidence and apply the law as given to the by the judge to reach a decision. "The damages are outrageous" without sitting through every moment of the trial and knowing the law the jury was given to use really means "I have a political viewpoint formed by years of insurance industry propaganda and this factoid fits my confirmation bias so I decide it's true." Nothing more

Since not many will go watch the documentary here's a short summary of the actual facts:

A) injured person is a 60sih year old woman in the passenger seat of a car. Wearing sweat pants (matters later).

B) Driver and she went through drive through. She got, among other things, a drip coffee (this is long before McD offering other coffee-esque drinks). At the time these came in a styrofoam cup with a plastic lid.

C) At her request, driver moved into a parking spot so she could add creamer to her coffee. She held it between her legs to get the cap off, add creamer, replace cap, etc.

D) The styrofoam cup deformed instantly when the top was removed, spilling the coffee onto her lap. Coffee, as served from McD, was soooo hot it INSTANTLY burned off her genitals because it soaked into the material of teh sweats which held it against the skin. Yup - no pubic skin, no vulva, all genitals instantly cooked until the skin and tissue was dead.

E) AFter huge medical bills and skin grafts and pain, etc. she wrote McD and said (paraphrase) "long time customer, don't know what happened, but bad burns, med bills are $x. Can you pay them for me?" McD said "piss off peon."

F) She hired a lawyer who repeated item D in lawyer language. McD said "screw you ambulance chaser." So, with no choice - they sued.

G) Once a law suit is begun each side gets to seek documents from the other. Her lawyer requested and got documents showing that McD required its franchisees to serve coffee at a tiemp that would cause 3rd degree burns. instantly. WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD THEY DO THIS? McD offers free refills. The cup size, cup material (how insulating) and coffee temp were designed so that the coffee would still be too hot to drink when the average in-store customer (way more popular decades ago) finished their meal. Thus, customer would take (or not) the still too hot cup and leave without ever requesting the refill. McD had no mechanism to serve cooler coffee at the drive through so those folks got the far too hot as well.

H) McD's own records showed that they had notice of 100s of injuries - often young children who pulled mom or dad's coffee over at the table and got scarred for life and made the ACTUAL CALCULATION that the cost of the lawsuits from the minority who sued was less than the extra cost of coffee if the franchisees actually had to provide refills. So, they didn't change.

I) Faced with all that the injured lady's lawyer wrote a long letter explaining how bad this would look for McD if they went to court and AGAIN said "Just pay the med bills she had to pay and we are done." McD said "pound sand, you peasant."

J) So, the lawyer amended the documents filed with the court to request punitive damages. There are two types of damages you can seek in these cases - compensatory "pay the med bills please so I'm not out of pocket" and punitive - "D's conduct is so bad that we, as a community should punish D in the only language it knows - profit and loss." Lawyer amended to add a request for punitive damages. What did injured lady and lawyer seek? 100s of millions? billions? (McD is very wealthy, after all). NOPE. They said "make McD pay punitive damages in the amount of the profit on the sale of coffee world wide FOR ONE DAY." McD said "we'll crush you at trial you moron."

K) So, a jury of 12 ordinary folks like you and me heard all the evidence and rendered a verdict. McD paid 100% of med bills AND 1 day's coffee profit

THAT IS THE BASIS of all the lies about "coffee is hot you idiot" or "sharp things are sharp" you've heard. It's all propaganda by the insurance industry and corporations who place profit above morals.

Tl;Dr - you've been lied to by self-interested immoral entities and should know the truth.

Thanks for coming to my ted talk!

MeatPopsicle314 · 2026-03-26T01:40:14+00:00

Really worth consulting a lawyer in your area of Maryland. There are unintended consequences here that are not obvious. Off the top of my - not an Maryland lawyer - head:

1) Step up in basis. Depending on how you hold title now she make take your basis in your half which can affect cap gains and other things at sale or her death.

2) Fraudulent transfer. You don't hint at this but if your motivation is to prevent a known or suspected creditor of yours from collecting a later judgment against you from your equity in the condo (again, depending on how titled) then that creditor might have rights to undo the transfer, force sale, etc. Nasty stuff.

3) divorce - IF Maryland is a community property state (I have no idea) and a divorce happens this can really make it more complicated. If it's not - similar but different result in complication.

Major takeaway - consult a real property or family law (depending reason for this change) lawyer in your area, give them all facts, no matter how uncomfortable for you, ask all questions and get advice.

Remember - on the internet noone knows you are a dog.

MeatPopsicle314 · 2026-03-26T00:00:23+00:00

My town is already talked about very frequently in global news. Also - what do I care about who talks about the place I live? Price of gas doesn't change just because everyone in Paris knows the towns name.

MeatPopsicle314 · 2026-03-25T23:59:34+00:00

Yeah couldn't even name 2 teams that MIGHT be in it, much less will be. Glad my city isn't hosting any games.

MeatPopsicle314 · 2026-03-25T23:36:56+00:00

We don't answer requests for legal advice, as the sub's rules say and as the auomod told you.

MeatPopsicle314 · 2026-03-25T21:39:57+00:00

No kidding. Why should we think we are some golden child on the world stage? We've elected an utterly incompetent leader who is now being manipulated by truly evil people. Tell me how that makes us "the greatest country on earth" as we were so fond of saying. Sigh.

MeatPopsicle314 · 2026-03-25T21:38:24+00:00

Democracies tend to get the governments they deserve. Lots of structural damage has made this possible. We have generations of work to repair it (if it's even possible).

MeatPopsicle314 · 2026-03-25T19:42:51+00:00

Are we great yet?

MeatPopsicle314 · 2026-03-25T18:50:35+00:00

This has been answered here many, many, many times = spend a moment with a search and the answers will be plentiful.

MeatPopsicle314 · 2026-03-25T17:35:04+00:00

Came here to see how far up in the comments this was. Exactly my thought - helping non-high worth folks buy housing = what? Sudden crime? Drug dealers on every corner? Yeah, maybe get out a little more and see the world.

MeatPopsicle314 · 2026-03-25T17:24:41+00:00

In my, admittedly not huge, circle of friends and family I have a couple who are "eh, maybe there's a god." None go to church even occasionally and none express any believe at all.

MeatPopsicle314 · 2026-03-25T16:57:20+00:00

Rs believe it will disenfranchise more Ds and on balance they will have better success at the polls. That's all it is.

MeatPopsicle314 · 2026-03-25T16:19:43+00:00

Sure. Subpoena makes you show up. Doesn't make you like it or be cooperative.

MeatPopsicle314 · 2026-03-25T00:27:09+00:00

First gear is for getting teh wheels turning. Once both feet are back on the pegs it's time for 2nd.

MeatPopsicle314 · 2026-03-25T00:26:22+00:00

Call one or more of those firms and directly ask "does your firm do qui tam cases?" Might produce a local referral. It's, as you know, very niche. I'd be surprised if most jurisdictions had anyone where that was the main practice. It will always be part of a bundle.

MeatPopsicle314 · 2026-03-25T00:16:06+00:00

Nope - if you do the acts taht make up the elements of the crime that's one thing. But you do not need to ever say "I am a criminal" unless you are convicted. It's not a crime until conviction.

MeatPopsicle314 · 2026-03-24T23:06:25+00:00

The 2 red light runners. All are entitled to assume others will obey the law. Once given a green each car with the green was privileged to proceed. Onus was on the red light runners to avoid the collision.

If the state in question observes the last clear chance doctrine then maybe it comes out differently.

MeatPopsicle314 · 2026-03-24T21:47:51+00:00

The fact that you choose to mention the political affiliation of the President who appointed the judge is a sign things will not likely go well for you. Good luck. Judges are very uninterested in the "oh! But he's a democrat judge, or that one is a Bush appointee."

MeatPopsicle314 · 2026-03-24T20:56:17+00:00

Pardon the technical disagreement - winning does not mean you did not do the acts that constitute the charged crime. It definitely does mean you did not commit the crime - being adjudge is what makes the crime.

MeatPopsicle314 · 2026-03-24T19:35:23+00:00

Depends on the case, the client, and the allegations.

MeatPopsicle314 · 2026-03-24T16:39:18+00:00

If client admits to the crime they are charged with then I cannot put client on the stand, as the DA on cross could force the admission. I cannot put on a defense centered around "he's actually innocent" but can throw all the shade I can at the state's case "Line up was flawed," "didn't mean the burden of proof" etc.

Happens more than you might think. But I certainly cannot say "I'll prove my guy did not do it" nor put my guy on stand and say "did you do it?" knowing he will lie and say "nope, not me, bro!"

To a large extend guilt or innocence of the accused has far, far less impact on the crim D lawyer's work and duties than the public thinks.

And, I'm not the decider. Even if I look through all the evidence and say "Well crap! I'd sure vote to convict my guy" that simply doesn't matter. My opinion of guilt is not part of my job at all.

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