Hot Coffee
Year: 2011
Grade: B
Country: USA
Director: Saladoff
Reviewdocumentary about tort reform. it begins talking about the hot coffee lawsuit that everyone has heard of. some moronic old lady spills coffee on herself while driving and gets a couple million from mcdonald’s. only trouble is, this story isn’t true. the lid was defective, the coffee was kept at 180-190 degrees, she wasn’t driving, mcdonald’s had received many complaints about this in the past, the award ended up being reduced, etc. sensationalist media strikes again.
the documentary essentially makes the case that tort lawsuits are the only recourse for the average person against big business. true enough and a cause i’m sympathetic towards. that said, i do think we have too many lawsuits, too many lawyers, and not enough common sense. difficult issue in part because there are absurd anecdotes to prove both points. people who sue insurance companies for silly reasons and big companies getting away with unsafe practices because they have an army of lawyers.