Personal Injury Law

The McDonald's Verdict, Tort Deform and other Riddles Revisited

By Steve Lombardi

I have to admit that this one was too good to pass on without comment. I've written previously about tort deformers and their mantra and how Madison Avenue has brilliantly fooled most of the nation into believing the sky is falling and we can only save the insurance industry with more tort deform. But as my mother is fond of saying, "This one is a real doozy!" Here are the links to the previous blawgs.

Coffee Warning - It's Hot! Tort Deformers Mantra

When did Iowa road kill take on more value than human life wrongfully taken?

Tort deformers usually won't identify themselves. Most add comments with anonymous monikers. They like to remain hidden from public scrutiny. Heaven forbid that the parents of the brain damaged baby who are neighbors might learn it was they who advocated taking away the rights of the injured to receive fair compensation. Oh no instead they hide behind a false name to continue their lies and deceit to compel emotions to deny fairness. The McDonald's coffee case is their mantra. With it they distort the facts and then claim that it was merely not warning of the coffee being hot that compelled an out of control jury to award a lotto ticket to the injured. Experience tells me this is an organized advertising campaign and that the current warning - "Warning coffee may be hot and cause injury!" is just more of the same advertising campaign. That warning is worthless. If you order a hot drink you expect it to be hot. Not 170 to 180 degrees hot, but hot enough to improve the taste but not so hot that it burns the inside of your mouth. After all if you ordered iced coffee you would expect it to be cold.

Here is the good part that I just couldn't pass up. I'm watching television and drinking hot coffee like I do most mornings. A commercial comes on for Flomax. It's a drug that improves urination in men with benign prostatic hyperplasia, aka an enlarged prostate. The commercial warning says: "Avoid situations where injury may result."
What a ridiculous warning. This warning couldn't get any sillier. And it's my opinion this warning has nothing to do with any real education about side effects. (See real warnings below.) And that is my point about "Warning coffee may be hot and cause injury!" It too is ridiculously simplistic and provides no real warning about the risk you take when tipping a vessel of 170 degree coffee into your mouth. The risk is not one of the coffee being hot, but how absurdly hot was her coffee.

Next Madison Avenue will be warning us that razor blades are sharp and may cause a cut. Or that a knife is pointy and can cause a puncture wound. How about warning that using a lawnmower can cause injury to your grass? Or how about that needles can cause a boo-boo. I'm also big on the warning "Ingesting poison may reduce your need for exercise."

I rest my case.

Full post as published by Des Moines Personal Injury Lawyer on March 03, 2008 (boomark / email).