Furthermore, warning that "hot coffee is HOT," is not necessarily some "crybaby liberal" sponsored government regulation. It's to protect McDonalds' ass.

A lot of people have snorted derisively at the woman who sued McDonalds because she wound up with a lapful of scalding hot coffee and burned her legs. I have a little acquaintance with that phenomenon myself.

1. Some time ago (shortly before the infamous hot coffee lawsuit), my wife Barbara and I and a friend were returning to Seattle from Bellingham fairly late in the evening, and with about forty miles to go, we all felt in need of a snort of coffee. So we spotted a McDonalds I pulled up to the window and ordered three large coffees. After I had pulled into a parking spot, Nancy, sitting in the back seat, let out a yell. The bottom of her Styrofoam cup had dropped out and dumped its very hot contents in her lap—exactly what had happened to the woman who sued McDonalds. Nancy's legs got scalded pretty badly and she was pretty damned uncomfortable for the next week or so.   

2. Shortly thereafter, I dropped into a McDonalds to grab lunch (it isn't the healthiest thing I could eat, and I don't eat them that often, but I'm rather fond of the fillet-o-fish sandwich). I also ordered a large coffee. I had one of those pressed paper trays that drive-ins sometimes pass out to hold your drinks without spilling them, and I set the coffee cup into the depression on the tray (made for exactly that purpose), and drove to a nearby park to enjoy the pastoral scene, watch the squirrels, and eat my lunch. When I got to the park and reached for my coffee, I noticed that the passenger seat was soaking wet with coffee. The disk at the bottom of the cup had dropped out and dumped the contents on the seat.

I checked the cup and noticed that the disk that fit into the bottom of the cup was held in place only by a small flange, and when you flex the cup slightly (it's practically impossible to hold a Styrofoam cup without flexing it a bit), the disk can easily slip off the flange and spill its contents right out the bottom.

That's what happened to the woman who filed the law suit.

McDonalds admitted that they serve their coffee much hotter than most restaurants and drive-ins, which increases the probability of being scalded when the coffee dumps while you're waiting for it to cool down to a drinkable temperature. As a result of "that stupid woman's frivolous law-suit," McDonalds now serves their coffee at a more drinkable temperature (but still good and hot) and they've done something about their Styrofoam cups so the bottom won't drop out.

They also warn their patrons that (although not as quick off the boil as it used to be) the coffee is still hot. A lot of other restaurants and drive-ins followed suit in an effort to reduce their liability.

Don Firth