<p>Especially when Rudy’s was so much juicier, and he had to move out of the Mayor’s Mansion.</p>
<p>k&s- good job on the McDonald’s case info. I use that case in a lot of speaking I do (as a lawyer). You forgot to say that the executive who McD’s put up as the main witness was arrogant and the jury hated him. He essentially said that if the woman had not been old with such thin skin, she wouldn’t have been hurt as badly.</p>
<p>I didn’t get the impression that Xiggi was referring to the Monica incident. There were others, you know, who made claims of inappropriate sexual advances and/or ASSAULT from Mr. Bill whilst he was Gov’na and while running for various offices. This is not to say that I believe/disbelieve the accusations of these other women–just pointing out that such accusations were made.</p>
<p>Thanks, K&S, for shedding light upon those important and mitigating details in the McDonalds case. Had I been on the jury, in possession of such information, I’m sure I would have reached the same judgment they did.</p>
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<p>Dearest CGM, </p>
<p>If Clinton consensual “relation” is indeed the subject you liked to discuss, please be aware that it is your choice to label it … sex. I happened to believe that what happened in the Oval Office was indeed sordid, but it was a lot more about power, and especially the power of one individual over another. </p>
<p>Not that it matter one way or the other. The kneepad-gate will remain attached to the legacy and this … forever. Annoying as it will be to the ones who switch from rosy reading glasses to blinders at will. </p>
<p>I guess we ALL commit the same sin of forgiving the people we like or support with the same fervor we indict the ones we dislike or don’t know that well.</p>
<p>Guess he was referring to Monica Gate afterall…</p>
<p>He has a point though, about the balance of power thing. She was a silly bobble-headed thing, dazzled by Bill (his charm is legendary, afterall). It would have certainly been to his credit to exercise some restraint (her thong undies, notwithstanding).</p>
<p>Mini certainly has a point as well. Politics doesn’t seem to have a shortage of players (on both sides of the aisle) willing to engage in sordid behavior.</p>
<p>MCD case should be reverse. Maybe we the customers don’t prefer lukewarm coffees like in the other chains.</p>
<p>I am sorry for the injury, esp for an older person. But she bore major responsibility for what happen. You have to consider all the facts. She was a passenger in a moving stick-shift sports car with low slung seats, driven by her grandson, and held the coffee between her crotch. Was that not an accident waiting to happen? </p>
<p>As for McDonald selling potentially dangerous coffee, the restaurants serves billion cups of coffee every year, 700 have been burned. That’s 1 out of 24 million cups served. If we find MCD liable, do we have to stop selling chain-saws too ? The odds of getting injured are much greater than spilled MCD coffee.</p>
<p>Did Isaiah Thomas play b-ball at Notre Dame?</p>
<p>Poetsheart, you were on the right track. My original comment was not directed at a single incident nor at one lone individual. I was addressing TheDad, “Maybe to send a message that “a good ol’ boy just having a little fun” isn’t acceptable in the workplace.” and making a point that the “good ol’ boys” have not hesitated to mix “a little fun” and the “business of our nation” in our most revered public buildings. Fwiw, I believe that this egregious behavior transcends the party affiliations and past generations. </p>
<p>The fact that CGM conclude that the shoe --to stick to the story line-- seemed to fit the large foot of one of her favorite “players” speaks volume about the prevalence of the commonly held poor moral opinion of our politicians.</p>
<p>WHenever I hear of large monetary settlements from corporations sued by individuals, I remember a scene near the end of Civil Action. Portraying a lawyer, a mature John Travolta reminds the jury that while several million is an astonishing amount of money for a working person to receive or award, in the life of a corporation (which the law considers a “person”), several million dollars might equate, in corporate profits, to one day’s pay.</p>
<p>So the real question concerning the OP is, does the woman’s damage in her career equate to a few days’ pay by the “person” (corporation) who caused her the setback? Certainly.</p>
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<p>Uhh, unless 140 degrees (the industry standard) is too “lukewarm” for you, I highly doubt that most would find coffee at that temp to be insufficiently hot.</p>
<p>McDonald’s, otoh, super-heated its coffee to 180-190 degrees, which at that temp, could cause 3rd degree burns.</p>
<p>Btw, any self-respecting barista would never prepare/serve coffee at such a high temp, since the coffee “taste” degrades at such a high temp and tends to taste “burnt”.</p>
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<p>Uhh, the jury found her partially negligent and reduced the amount awarded to her.</p>
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<p>Not a good analogy at all.</p>
<p>It’s reasonable to expect that spilled coffee wouldn’t result in 3rd degree burns (which require skin grafts).</p>
<p>I standby the fact a person holding hot coffee between her crotch, trying to pull off a lid in a low-slung, moving stickshift sports car must assume major share of responsibility unless she has prior knowledge that she is immuned from hot liquids.</p>
<p>Her action was not distinquishable from someone out to harm herself. Corporations can’t be responsible for what irrational, irresponsible people do, regardless of what personal injury lawyers say.</p>
<p>It may seem heartless. I am sorry for the pain she suffered, but she brought it on herself.</p>
<p>“Her action was not distinguishable from someone out to harm herself.”</p>
<p>What rot!</p>
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<p>The coffee case is discussed repeatedly at legal education seminars. I recall one additional fact from one such seminar. </p>
<p>There was an intentional decision by MCD to sell the coffee at a temperature that was so hot it could not be safely consumed without having to wait for it to cool. </p>
<p>The cost of beans is directly related to how long they have been roasted. The hotter the brewing water the fuller and richer the coffee SMELLS. The excessive temperature allowed lesser expensive beans to smell like more expensive longer roasted beans.</p>
<p>WHO was being irresponsible?</p>
<p>Interesting fact. I don’t see people boycotting MCD coffee, though. And it is not against the law to sell piping hot coffee. In fact I for one want piping hot coffee. MCD caters to my needs. What’s wrong with a corporation serving what customers want?</p>
<p>I am far from heartless but corporations can’t be liable for the action of irrational and irresponsible people. Try this libel lawsuit in Southeast Asia and the court laughs in your face. Stupid, frivolous lawsuits and undeducated,biased jurors culled from the idle mass are a sign of decadent, liberal controlled society.</p>
<p>Well, I’m sure you may well receive an invitation to live in Southeast Asia and to forego all the hassles of living in a decadent, liberal (but hardly controlled) society.</p>
<p>Ah, yes, what a decadent, liberal society we live in, and how terrible it is. Maybe you should just go live in Iran; that’ll solve both your decadence and liberal problems in one fell swoop.</p>
<p>The best thing could happen to US is a turn toward the middle.</p>
<p>yourworld, while it may seem difficult to see from where you’re sitting on the political spectrum, the US is actually one of the most conservative Western societies. “The Middle” is actually farther left - unless you’re advocating becoming more like the rest of the more conservative societies in the world: dictatorships or theocracies.</p>
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Indeed . Woody Allen case in point.</p>