For decades, the McDonald’s hot coffee lawsuit has been treated as proof that people can sue over anything. But the actual facts of Liebeck v. McDonald’s Restaurants tell a very different story.

Bradford Keaty and Dr. Joseph Ramos revisit the case that changed how Dr. Ramos viewed attorneys. They discuss Stella Liebeck’s third-degree burns, the hundreds of prior burn complaints, why McDonald’s served its coffee at approximately 180 to 190 degrees, how comparative fault affected the verdict, and why the widely repeated $2.7 million figure does not reflect what she ultimately received.

The episode also opens with a listener question about how to find a trustworthy hormone replacement therapy provider and closes with the story of how Dr. Ramos’s first instructional flight ended in a plane crash.

In this episode:

• What the public gets wrong about the McDonald’s hot coffee case
• How becoming an attorney changed Dr. Ramos’s perspective
• What punitive damages and comparative fault mean
• Why a judge can reduce a jury’s verdict
• Questions to ask when choosing an HRT provider
• The story of Dr. Ramos’s first plane crash

What famous lawsuit, medical question, or story from the intersection of law and medicine should we break down next? Leave your question in the comments.

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