The following quote from another response to your comment is instructive:

> Liebeck’s case was far from an isolated event. McDonald’s had received more than 700 previous reports of injury from its coffee, including reports of third-degree burns, and had paid settlements in some cases.

And as for the temperature of instant coffee, feel free to use a thermometer and verify it for yourself. It will not be 95C. The temperature is reduced from pouring it into a room temperature cup and also from stirring a room temperature substance into it. And that's still a worst-case scenario; McDonald's coffee, which is not instant, should be less hot than that, not more.

When I make coffee at home, I can immediately take a sip of it within a few seconds of pouring it into a mug, without burning my mouth. If I accidentally poured such a mug all over myself I would likely not sustain extensive third degree burns. Coffee at Starbucks is served at a similar temperature -- it is certainly not kept super-heated at a level that will scald you if touched.

The thing I don't understand is, why are you so anti-safety? Why do you have such an averse reaction to solving a very basic safety problem? Products that you buy should not be pointlessly and unnecessarily unsafe in unexpected ways.

> The following quote from another response to your comment is instructive

> The thing I don't understand is, why are you so anti-safety? Why do you have such an averse reaction to solving a very basic safety problem?

You seem to have me confused with someone else. Check the username before you attribute a comment to me. I promise you that I'm only using the one account.

> When I make coffee at home, I can immediately take a sip of it within a few seconds of pouring it into a mug, without burning my mouth. If I accidentally poured such a mug all over myself I would likely not sustain extensive third degree burns.

I don't drink coffee. But when I make tea at home, I can almost immediately take a sip from a spoonful. I can't actually drink it from the mug because it is much too hot. If I poured it all over my lap and then sat in it until it cooled, I would be seriously injured, yes.

And yet it's true.

https://www.caoc.org/?pg=facts "McDonald’s operations manual required the franchisee to hold its coffee at 180 to 190 degrees Fahrenheit. Coffee at that temperature, if spilled, causes third-degree burns in three to seven seconds."

I also highly recommend watching this movie which was a very interesting look at the erosion of consumer rights driven by a coordinate corporate PR campaign/agenda: http://www.hotcoffeethemovie.com/Default.asp

How do you know it's true? Many, many people routinely prepare coffee for themselves that is hotter than McDonald's provided. ballooney strongly suggests that he is one of those people. That would make the assertion false.

I've spilled boiling water on myself occasionally. Given the freedom of movement you generally have in your kitchen that you don't have while buckled in to a car, I hope it doesn't surprise you that I wash it off in less than three seconds. It's hot!

I've also touched hot cookie sheets and the like, which obviously go well above 212 fahrenheit. That's common; what's not common is maintaining the contact for longer than your flinch reflex takes to kick in.

> How do you know it's true? Many, many people routinely prepare coffee for themselves that is hotter than McDonald's provided.

Ok, I'm not exactly sure what we're really disputing here. To clarify, I was just agreeing with the sentiment of GP's claim that "every cup of coffee you've ever had in your life was at a lower temperature than what McDonald's was serving up". You're right that as a literal statement it is probably not true.

The real point is whether McDonald's coffee was being served at an unreasonably hot temperature. Based on what I saw in the movie, and read on the Consumer Attorney's of California website, and based on my experience with current/post-lawsuit McDonald's coffee temperatures (which I still find exceedingly hot), I find it entirely believable that the coffee was served at an unreasonably hot temperature.

More context:

> Mrs. Liebeck’s injuries were far from frivolous. She was wearing sweatpants that absorbed the coffee and kept it against her skin. She suffered third-degree burns (the most serious kind) and required skin grafts on her inner thighs and elsewhere.

Liebeck’s case was far from an isolated event. McDonald’s had received more than 700 previous reports of injury from its coffee, including reports of third-degree burns, and had paid settlements in some cases.

Mrs. Liebeck offered to settle the case for $20,000 to cover her medical expenses and lost income. But McDonald’s never offered more than $800, so the case went to trial. The jury found Mrs. Liebeck to be partially at fault for her injuries, reducing the compensation for her injuries accordingly. But the jury’s punitive damages award made headlines — upset by McDonald’s unwillingness to correct a policy despite hundreds of people suffering injuries, they awarded Liebeck the equivalent of two days’ worth of revenue from coffee sales for the restaurant chain.