Speed bump video (now tort law discussion)

[G.Irish]

I donÔÇÖt think it has to do with stupid so much as opportunistic. The coffee lady was probably looking for help to pay her medical bills and when McDonaldÔÇÖs refused (whether right or wrong), she went to a lawyer who told her she could stand to get a whole lot more than her medical bills. Who here would say no to 2 million unearned dollars?

Correct!!!! The issue is that the judgement based on punitive damages is designed to punish the company.

If its about corporate accountability then why not make a law that says you cannot serve coffee above x temperature? There are plenty of laws out there on other parts of food service.

If a company willfully breaks the law, they pay a fine to the FDA (or equivalent authority) or if it is severe enough, people go to jail. Robbing corporations to give money to opportunistic citizens and lawyers is not exactly justice, its vigilanteism. And because litigation by its nature is mired in grey area, no one knows where they stand on any issue so they have to spend lots of money on lawyers and insurance.

Sure the downside is that companies might look at a fine and look at the profit and decide that the profit exceeds the fine. Well, either adjust the fine, live with it, or again, if the infraction is severe enough, put people in jail.