Chris in Paris wrote about the HBO documentary, Hot Coffee, here. The film details what really happened with the iconic (and deliberately misrepresented) McDonald's coffee lawsuit.
Keep in mind what you think you know — an elderly low-income–type woman buys a cup of nice warm McDonald's coffee, puts it in her lap, then stupidly drives down the road happy as a clam. The coffee spills, she gets a little burned, and sees a great opportunity to get undeservedly wealthy. It's the old old story.
And totally false. From the movie's self-description:
Everyone knows the McDonald’s coffee case. It has been routinely cited as an example of how citizens have taken advantage of America’s legal system, but is that a fair rendition of the facts? Hot Coffee reveals what really happened to Stella Liebeck, the Albuquerque woman who spilled coffee on herself and sued McDonald’s, while exploring how and why the case garnered so much media attention, who funded the effort and to what end. After seeing this film, you will decide who really profited from spilling hot coffee.Here's a great opportunity to get current on this fascinating tale. Listen to the filmmaker, Susan Saladoff, talking with Sam Seder on Majority.fm about what really happened. It's a good interview and Saladoff is a clear explainer. Fascinating.
Two points:
■ The second part of the movie (not discussed here) deals with the Jamie Leigh Jones lawsuit against KBR, the infamous gang-raped-&-held-in-a-shipping-container story. The film was produced prior to the jury trial and its outcome, so some information was not available at that time.
In fact, some of what we "know" about the story could not be established by the evidence (for example, the roofies), and some was not claimed by Jones and her lawyer (for example, the gang rape). This is not to say Jones' story is false; just that much of it was either not asserted in her complaint or not proved.
So tread cautiously when discussing this one; read here for more.
■ Majority.fm could use your support to stay on the air (or in the electronic iTunesean ether). Please help if you can.
GP
