mivox - 10:12 pm on Nov 21, 2002 (gmt 0)

It was hot enough to leave third degree burns between her legs. That is hazardously hot. That would be hot enough to cause severe burns in her mouth, had she gotten to drink it. Some details from lectlaw.com [lectlaw.com]:

A vascular surgeon determined that Liebeck suffered full thickness burns (or third-degree burns) over 6 percent of her body ... [...] McDonalds also said during discovery that, based on a consultants advice, it held its coffee at between 180 and 190 degrees fahrenheit to maintain optimum taste.... Further, McDonalds' quality assurance manager testified that the company actively enforces a requirement that coffee be held in the pot at 185 degrees, plus or minus five degrees. He also testified that a burn hazard exists with any food substance served at 140 degrees or above, and that McDonalds coffee, at the temperature at which it was poured into styrofoam cups, was not fit for consumption because it would burn the mouth and throat....

So McDonald's knew it's coffee posed a burn hazard... that woman, on the other hand, had no reason to assume her coffee was a hazardous substance.