Pearson and McDonald’s Lawsuit Analysis Samantha Penico University of Maryland University College, AMBA 610
Executive Summary There are two major lawsuits which the main populace has defined as frivolous. One of those cases is the McDonald’s split coffee case. This is the case where the plaintiff spilled her coffee and was rumored to sue McDonald’s for 2.7 million dollars and win. The other’s case is the Pearson dry cleaning case where a man sued Chung Dry Cleaner’s 54 million dollars for losing his pants. The plaintiff won in the McDonald’s Case and the Plaintiff lost in the Dry clearance’s case. In this paper we are going to dissect each case by the facts, the law, the issues, the ethical issues, the defendants preventative The issue that started this entire fiasco was a pair of missing pants, which ended up leading Judge Pearson not being re-appointed and a Custom Cleaners being shut down. After the suit Judge Pearson received a letter from the Commission on Selection and Tenure Administrative Law Judges they elected not to re-appoint him as judge and cited his pour performance as a judge and the Pants suit (Cauvin, 2007). The issues are simple to spell out for Ms. Stella Liebeck’s case. The issue, which brings about the other issues, is the plaintiff, Ms. Liebeck, received third degree burns when Mc. Donald’s coffee was spilt on her lap. The plaintiff requested the defendant pay for medical bills and work loss, the defendant refused and offered a minimal sum, which would not even cover attorney costs. The defendant does not want to lower temperature they keep their coffee at as it would lower the “optimum taste” of the product. The plaintiff was partially at fault for spilling the coffee; however, experts said if the coffee was not that hot then the injuries would never of occurred regardless of who spilled the coffee. Subsequently the issues are but they aren’t that simple. From one issue can spur another and that is the case for both lawsuits. Ms. Liebeck was severely burned by McDonald’s coffee and requested an accurate amount for her injuries, they refused, and it went to court causing the issue of monetary loss and embarrassment for McDonald’s. The
