Eli5: How does some lawsuit cases ends up in one party paying up millions of dollars? (For example, the hot coffee incident with McDonalds)
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Civil lawsuits (ie not criminal) have the plaintiff (person who brings the complaint) and the defendant (the person who the plaintiff believes to be responsible). Civil lawsuits are typically claims of compensation (ie money)
If the plaintiff succeeds, then the court determines the payment due. There are two broad categories of the payment. Compensatory damages is the amount deemed necessary to make good the harm. (so if someone hits your car, this would be the cost of repairing the car and the cost of renting a vehicle while the car is being repaired etc). Punitive damages are the amount deemed necessary to punish the offender (ie to incentivize them not to do this again).
The plaintiff is allowed to claim any amount in their complaint. The court determines the actual amount depending on the outcome – whether there was significant negligence etc etc.
The hot coffee case is pretty notorious but was far from frivolous:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_jaU5V9FUg&ab_channel=LegalEagle](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_jaU5V9FUg&ab_channel=LegalEagle)
The Mcdonlads case is very interesting, McDonald’s did a lot is PR to confuse the public. If you actually read about the trial, and understand what McDonald’s was doing wrong… and look at the burn marks on the legs of the victim, you will understand better why that person deserves reparations
There are actual damages, like medical costs, loss of income, that can be easily quantified.
There are less obvious damages like loss of quality of life, pain and suffering, etc.
Then there are punitive damages, designed to punish the offending party and encourage better behavior. A $500 fine for me hurts more than a $500 fine to a corporation, so those punitive damages have to be higher.
Some cases have treble, triple, damages notable categories are tree damage and wage nonpayment.
And finally some cases award legal fees, though that seems less common than you’d think.
With a civil lawsuit you have one party suing for compensation. In the McDonald’s case specifically she was awarded money to cover her medical bills, legal costs for her lawyer and court fees, and money for emotional distress and loss of work. In addition there was also a portion of money required by the court as a penalty to the company.
Not to be combative here, but [*You’re Wrong About* the McDonald’s Hot Coffee Case](https://www.buzzsprout.com/1112270/9179249-the-mcdonald-s-hot-coffee-case). It’s a great rundown about exactly how this happened, and how McDonald’s PR department made you think that they paid millions of dollars.
Incidentally, the $2.7M punitive damages that were immediately reduced by the judge were settled on as two days’ worth of coffee sales. So that’s how the jury got that number in this case.
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