Perhaps it is just the transatlantic grapevine, but I heard that you can make a fortune by going to a Macdonald’s in the US and pouring hot coffee over yourself. And you are trying to prevent illegal immigrants from coming across the border???
So, I guess you don’t actually want to interact with anybody around here, do you?
Yes. Christ, we do this all the time. I myself made 62 million dollars last week doing this. No one here goes to work anymore. Schmuck.
I assume you are referring to the 70 year old woman who got 3d degree burns and needed skin grafts, that charlatan.
The other site I normally reference seems to be non-functional but this will give you all the information you need:
Of course, you could learn to use a search engine such a Google and come up with http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cur78.htm or
http://www.consumerrights.net/mcdonalds.html
Can someone tell me the third word that ends with -gry…
Naw, one person got away with it, so now every time you order a coffee at McDonald’s, they make you sign a legally binding waiver not to sue, even if the coffee is so hot that it burns a hole through your tongue.
Does that question about immigrants have to do with the coffee statement? Are you implying that illegal immigrants’ key reason for sneaking into the country is so they can pour coffee on themselves? If it’s unrelated, and it’s just another general question about the US, then believe it or not, yes! We have whole agencies which are devoted to preventing illegal activity. Some people combat crime here like it’s their job!
Bmerton, are you trying to be obtuse?
People around here take a pretty dim view of those who simply ask questions to try and get a rise out of other posters. Did you even think about the question you posted? Did you really want an answer? Did you search to try and find an answer before you posted? Do you have any desire to continue posting at this board? If the answer to the last question is yes, might I suggest you think before you post? Otherwise you’ll simply be lumped in with all the other assholes we have to tolerate who are then simply ignored.
Achernar: go and read the multitude of threads on this topic to discover exactly what ‘getting away with it’ involved. Severe burns and genital disfigurement IIRC.
Andy,
Based on the second paragraph, I assumed Achernar’s post was tongue-in-cheek. I reserve the right to be wrong, though. 
bmerton, I have read about four of your posts and not one of them seemed to be worth the time. And I appreciate obnoxiousness! Like all non-Americans, I enjoy a dig at the US but you are totally without imagination or wit. Now Wildest Bil l… there was a guy.
I don’t think you will last much longer here…
Oops, sorry Achernar…what can I say, it was early in the morning and I hadn’t had my superheated hot coffee…
I had a quick look through bmerton’s posts too. Methinks he’s just a troll. Ignore him and he’ll go away, although hopefully he’ll get himself banned asap. And a pretty unimaginative troll at that.
On the off chance that Fucky the 9[sup]th[/sup]* doesn’t know what a troll is.
What is a Troll
*My Mother called assholes this for some reason.
I can’t speak for the rest of his posts, but as a fellow Brit I think I can see where BMerton was coming from with his post.
Firstly, its a joke- we all know that there a lot of cases in America where seemingly ridiculous amounts of money get awarded for silly things. As an ex-law student, I know these often get misreported (and that we have quite a few bizarre cases ourselves, its just that yours seem to be blown up more), and given the fact that a number of facts about the McDonald’s case have been distorted (Stella was driving the care when she she put the coffee in between her legs etc), if read at its face value it looks pretty bloody ridiculous to us. There has even been a Stella award set up (similar to the Darwin awards for people killing themselves in ridiculous ways) for the most outlandish law suit and the compensation gained thereof.
Secondly, the comment about illegal immigrants is just aplay on the first joke. How can you stop immigrants coming to the country if it is so easy to make millions from doing something that looks really foolish.
Yeah, ok, it is a stupid post, but ease up on the guy
If bmerton wanted information about the case in question, he could have used the search facility to find the last thread where this was debated extensively: Coffee Suit: How’d it get into court?
If he wanted a general debate about whether the Americans are more litigious than us (a legitimate question), then he could have posted something a little less inflammatory in GD. As it is, it looks like his main intention on this board is to annoy the American posters.
Correction: having seen his latest offering in GQ, he’s out to annoy the French as well.
Seriously though, since that suit don’t all/most styro coffee cups have a warning on them saying that the contents are extremely hot. I know Starbucks’ & Panera’s have such a warning.
As I said, I think it was supposed to be a joke. But having read some of his other posts, I am coming round to your idea that he is a prat!
For the record, please do not confuse bmerton with me, bnorton. Maybe it’s just me, but everytime I see one of his posts I get one of those WTF moments.
Further in defence of bmerton
I agree that some of his posts seem designed to inflame comment, but in this thread, he just participates in the discussion in a reasonable fashion, and accepts a correction on a point of fact like a reasonable person.
My recommendation: a good course of lurking for a while.
(Of course, part of the reason I’m pointing this out is because it was my correction that he accepted :D, but my moment of glory was fleeting when APB suggested that my comment was inaccurate. Sic transit gloria mundi.)
Another factor is the phenomenon of “selective journalism”. Many large awards get huge headlines, but the awards are almost always reduced substantially either by the judge in the case or on appeal - and this typically does not get reported.