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How The Spill Happened
- Stella Liebeck, a 79-year-old, spilled McDonald's coffee between her legs and suffered severe third-degree burns.
- Her grandson drove, she was wearing sweatpants, and the coffee soaked fabric against her skin, worsening the injuries.
Why The Case Became A National Meme
- The McDonald's case fit an existing cultural narrative about 'frivolous lawsuits' and so exploded into a moral panic.
- Without that preexisting panic, the case likely would have remained a brief local story.
Why Lawsuits Became America's Regulator
- U.S. policy relies more on private lawsuits than powerful regulators to check corporate harm.
- That design made punitive damages and tort suits a central enforcement tool against dangerous corporate practices.