Liebeck: The True Story behind Stella Liebeck v. McDonald’s Restaurants (Complete Lyrics) (Explicit)

    In the mid-1990’s, Stella Liebeck made national headlines when she was awarded $2.9 Million in punitive damages after spilling hot coffee on herself following a trip to a McDonald’s drive-thru. Though the lawsuit is popularly regarded as the poster child for frivolous litigation, a closer look at the case and the reporting in its aftermath reveal that there is much more than meets the eye. This is the true story of Stella Liebeck v. McDonald’s Restaurants.

    Verse 11

    Misinformation’s the word of the day!
    I heard ’em say,
    that social media’s oh so misleading, the things that they’re tweeting
    just lead us astray!
    Is corporate media treated the same? (Heeeey!)
    When they push a theme about WMD’s do we scream “regulate”?!2 (Naaay!)
    When corporate greed put us all on the street, and they say we’re to blame?! (Ayyy!)3
    Let’s talk about Stella! (Ella) The story that all those folk tell us,
    Had us all ready to jail ‘er! Well, uh,
    You know the tale, it began with a sale,
    Of some coffee that’s hot that she got from McDonalds!
    Driving, they said, with the cup tryna steady it
    Between her legs! That’s what the said!
    And she spilled it and got her 2 milli! They said the suit was too silly!
    Plaintiff’s litigious, they’re blaming the system
    and aiming to fix it through law, I’m like “really”?
    Really!
    She was ridiculed, and it was pitiful,
    Cuz what was in the news, on her was really skewed!
    If there was truth to the story, it’s miniscule!
    When what you should really do…is

    Chorus

    Respect! Liebeck! Lie-Lie-Liebeck!

    You’d better Respect! Liebeck! Lie-Lie-Liebeck!

    I said Respect! Liebeck! Lie-Lie-Liebeck!

    (Repeat Chorus)

    Verse 2

    Lemme explain it! Stella’s a little old lady!
    In 92 she was 80! Well give or take bout a year!
    That’s who you’re hating!
    Big corporations you cheer!
    Stop and check out the optics!
    Got it?
    McDonalds came off as callous, worried bout profits,
    not the people they burned! My God!
    This hot ass coffee they made, could leave you scalded, they say,
    In seven seconds said experts, and that was a health risk
    not simply a way to get paid!
    How many pundits mentioned that hundreds
    Wrote to McDonalds making complaints?4
    They settled so people’d forget it but damn it
    The temperature, remained the same.5
    And that was lame!
    Then Stella Came!
    And you heard the story reported but damn how the details were changed!
    Or rather distorted, importantly!
    First, they say that she drove, she was a passenger though!
    It was her grandson that drove! That’s critical! Now should I go on?!
    In fact you should know, that when she spilled the coffee, the car was still! Got it?!
    But it was so hot when she dropped it,
    She went into shock! (Went into shock?!)
    She went to the hospital with 3rd degree burns on her privates!
    On 6% of her body!6 Lemme describe it!
    Coffee so hot when she dropped it,
    It charred her tissue, and damaged the bone!7 Whoa!
    Now check out this pic in my video, and take a moment to groan! (oooh!)8
    That part we don’t show,
    For some reason in media! Say that she’s greedy,
    But one cup of coffee did leave her in treatment, you see,
    And she needed a week in the hospital, y’all!
    What was the cost?! Thousands!
    How Many?!
    We’re talking 10K? 20K?
    Stella hit up McDonalds when she COULDN’T pay!
    They said, maybe $800 is what they’d pay!
    Hey mang, how you gon’ Disrespect, Liebeck?!

    Chorus

    Verse 3

    So Stella reluctantly
    Sued McDonalds for all of their fuckery!
    And she tried a few times before trial to push settlement,
    They wouldn’t budge, you see!
    And Stella said the UCC would govern this, cousin!9
    2-314 and 15 talk about warranties, when you sell coffee,
    Things are implied, when you sell goods of that kind,
    Normally, on you a customer’s sure to rely,
    That the coffee is good for consumption,
    And other things, you know of like,
    Well I dunno, drinking that shit while she rode
    In a car without a cupholder, yo! If it’s not fit for that purpose
    The question is was Stella suitably warned?
    McDonald’s knew of the harm, y’all!
    Hundreds of folks before Stella were burned!
    They paid out some thousands of dollars to others,
    So you’d think the lesson they’d learn!
    Especially, when execs had seen similar burns retrospectively,
    Then testified you should never drink coffee at that excessive heat!10
    Still wouldn’t change that temp for me! “Never B”!
    That’s the reason they met defeat! Yes, indeed! And, let’s see,
    Um, there was no adequate label
    To warn of the harm, so she had to get paid!
    200K for her damages, and plus the cost of 2 days,
    Of coffee sales! that was 2 million and change
    As a punitive payment. Which was reduced to 480,
    K by judicial arrangement! Then 40K would be taken
    From our dear plaintiff!
    Which was proportionate to all her fault in this!
    That’s what the jury said!
    And Then Stella settled,
    So $500 Thousand is all she’d get
    From McDonald’s!
    She signed a confidentiality statement so all the details won’t be found out!
    No, She couldn’t speak on this, Just know the heat of the
    Coffee served at McDonalds was finally tweaked a bit!
    No more people’d get burned! We won’t repeat this shit!
    So trust that I mean it when speaking on Stella Liebeck!
    Yeah that’s why she needs respect!

    Verse 4

    Misinformation’s the word!
    Basically fuck what you heard!
    All that you’ve seen should be blurred!
    Pay no attention to all that occurs
    Behind the curtain!
    Yeah Stella’s perspective’s irrelevant, based on the things that they tell us! Shame on her name!
    Courts are too hellish! Juries are failing!
    And who’s to blame?!
    People like Stella! (Ella)(Ella)(Ella)
    And this question’s compelling? Tell us,
    Why’s she depicted like she’s the most frivolous?!
    She was the victim, but now she’s the picture
    Of everything wrong with the system, my brothers and sisters,
    It’s no coincidence!
    Now let’s take a trip back in time and revisit
    A case that was too critical
    To us, ok? Cipollone v Liggett Group!11
    Straight outta Federal Court in Jersey! It would later hit SCOTUS!
    Plaintiff in this said it’s ova!
    For big tobacco, and now those folk owe us,
    When you get cancer from smoking!
    They got real ansy like “Nooo”!
    With their backs on the ropes they got back on their Noah!
    Bracing,
    For with they said be a flood of litigation!
    That’s when ATRA was formed! (A-T-R-A Son)
    The American Tort Reform Association!
    Corporations and professionals,
    Some were lawyers, some were medical!
    Plus Insurance, and some others!
    And they all did come together!
    So you’d never get another judgment on em!12
    They paid out money, spent it on marketing firms such as APCO!13
    Bunch of assholes!
    They Made ads yo, and made groups!
    And they’re claimed they were grassroots,
    When they said that a lawsuit,
    Such as Stella’s, is abuse!
    They were picketing, lobbying, all the while hiding,
    That dollars were lining their pockets!
    When in 95, kid, there were documents,
    Phillip Morris the source is!
    And it shows Tort Reform is
    Quite the priority–more than
    Half of their budget! Something like $16 Million, really!14
    Children, care to compare Money spent here, to elsewhere!
    $135K for Facebook ads in Russiagate!15
    I’ll let that marinate!
    Hmmm…Compared to 16 Million, from one corporation!
    Adjust for inflation!
    And imagine the other donations, from the others in the Association!
    And, is there any wonder that the public was swayed, son?
    Let me remind you, in 95, dude, they released the budget!
    When 94 was the verdict!
    And what was described as a revival for for these tort reformers
    Would occur!
    Who driving force, the idol for judicial horrors
    Tort reformers warned against
    And scorned, my friends, the answer simply
    Stella!
    Man I tell ya, whether
    Television, radio,
    Newspaper, Jay Leno,
    Seinfeld, your favorite shows,
    All chose to paint this po’,
    Lady as the face of folks disgracing courts,
    Whose baseless torts just raise insurance, make us poor,
    Those basic corporation points!
    As some would say, she was made unworthy!
    That consensus was manufactured, maybe wholly!16
    With incentives to adopt McDonalds’ narrative,
    When they pay out dollars for ads17,
    On top of all the covert spending from ATRA!
    Public perception was shaped,
    So these folk could save profits, all while Miss Stella was shamed!
    In 04 she died, with disrespect on her name,
    Cuz without a platform, her story remained,
    Unexplained to the masses!
    All the while ATRA and other pundits got laws passed,
    Attacking ya rights,
    All to limit their liability for their misdeeds!
    The impression from this one I wanna leave
    Is whether it’s on Facebook or Twitter or NBC,
    Or even Me, don’t just believe, everything you see!
    Question the motives for the story!
    Authority can still be deceptive! don’t just simply accept it!
    Remember, Liebeck!!!

    ©2022 Panther’s Way Productions. All Rights Reserved.

    Footnotes:

    1. Generally, the facts as represented above were pulled from Java Jive: Genealogy of a Juridical Icon, by Michael McCann, William Haltom, and Anne Bloom 56 U. Miami L. Rev. 113(2001) (hereafter “McCann”), as well as from several internet sources on the subject (including “Adam Ruins Everything: The Truth About McDonald’s Hot Coffee Lawsuit”). Where facts differ, they will be cited accordingly.
    2. See, for example, “16 Years Later, How the Press That Sold the Iraq War Got Away With It,” by Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone Magazine Online, Published March 22, 2019.
    3. See, for example, “Do Homeowners Share Blame for Mortgage Mess?” by Bianna Golodryga, ABC News Online , Published October 7, 2008. See also “TOUGH TIMES? BLAME MINORITIES!” by Richard Cohen, Southern Poverty Law Center, October 14, 2008 (https://www.splcenter.org/news/2008/10/14/tough-times-blame-minorities).
    4. 700 individuals had previously reported burns by McDonald’s coffee in the period from 1984 through 1992. Some injuries were as serious as Stella Liebeck’s. See McCann, 56 U. Miami L. Rev. at 124 (2001).
    5. Reportedly, McDonald’s paid out “nearly three quarters of a million dollars to settle such claims, including some payments of up to $66,000. McCann, 56 U. Miami L. Rev. at 124-125 (2001).
    6. While the most serious burns appeared on 6% of Ms. Liebeck’s body following the coffee spill, there were additional, less serious burns, the total of which covered 16% of her body. See McCann, 56 U. Miami L. Rev. at 120 (2001).
    7. See, again, McCann, 56 U. Miami L. Rev. at 120. For more information, see this article on Burn Stages from Stanford Health Care, retrieved July 21, 2022.
    8. What time in the video does the picture appear?
    9. See McCann, 56 U. Miami L. Rev. at 122 (2001).
    10. When asked by Plaintiff’s counsel whether selling the coffee at 180-190 degrees is a hazard, McDonald’s Quality Assurance Supervisor Christopher Appleton replies that “[a]t that high temperature the coffee is a hazard.” McCann, 56 U. Miami L. Rev. at 12 (2001)
    11. Though later overturned by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals (893 F.2d 541 (3d Cir. 1990)), at the trial level, the District Court awarded $400,000.00 to Plaintiff Antonio Cipollone following the death of his wife from lung cancer. “The 1988 verdict…for years stood as the lone jury verdict against the [tobacco] industry.” The CALA Files: The Secret Campaign by Big Tobacco and Other Major Industries to Take Your Rights Away, by Carl Dean and Joanne Doroshow, p. 35.
    12. See, again, The CALA Files at p. 35.
    13. APCO & Associates, now APCO worldwide. See, generally, The CALA Files.
    14. https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Citizens_Against_Lawsuit_Abuse (Citing Covington and Burling Tort Reform Project Budget, October 3, 1995).
    15. “Removing Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior from Russia,” by By Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook/Meta Head of Cybersecurity Policy.
    16. See Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of Mass Media, by Noam Chomsky and Edwards S. Herman.
    17. See “McDonald’s Spent $50 Million on TV Advertising in April,” by Danni Santana, Skift Table, May 8, 2019, as an example of the amount of money McDonald’s spends in television advertising.

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