Homework Assignment I: “Hot Coffee” The movie, “Hot Coffee”, is a documentary film that was created by Susan Saladoff in 2011 that analyzes the impact of the tort reform on the United States judicial system. The title and the basis of the film is derived from the Liebeck v. McDonald’s restaurants lawsuit where Liebeck had burned herself after spilling hot coffee purchased from McDonald’s into her lap. The film features four different suits that may involve the tort reform. This film included many comments from politicians and celebrities about the case. There were also several myths and misconceptions on how Liebeck had spilled the coffee and how severe the burns were to her. One of the myths was that many people thought she was driving when she spilled the coffee on herself and that she suffered only minor burns, while in truth she suffered severe burns and needed surgery. This case is portrayed in the film as being used and misused to describe in conjunction with tort reform efforts. The film explained how corporations have spent millions of dollars deforming tort cases in order to promote tort reform. So in the film “Hot Coffee” it uses the case, Liebeck v. McDonalds, as an example of large corporations trying to promote the tort reform, in which has many advantages and disadvantages to the United States judicial system. The tort reform is often proposed by the Republican Party in which it changes the civil judicial system that aims to reduce the ability of
The plaintiff, Stella Liebeck, is represented as the “Individual Responsibility Narrative,” alluding to the fact that the spilling of the McDonald’s coffee was her doing, and therefore should be liable for the damages caused by the spill. Meanwhile McDonald’s, the defendant, narrative is named “Defective Products Liability.” In short, it takes a counteractive stance; though the initial cause was Ms.Liebeck’s fault, their faulty product and lack of warning makes them responsible for her injuries.
Tort reform is very controversial issue. From the plaintiff’s perspective, tort reforms seems to take liability away from places such as insurance companies and hospitals which could at times leave the plaintiff without defense. From the defendant’s perspective, tort reform provides a defense from extremely large punitive damage awards. There seems to be no median between the two. Neither side will be satisfied. With the help of affiliations such as the American Tort Reform Association and Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, many businesses and corporations are working to change the current tort system to stop these high cash awards.
Owning your own business is just about every person dream. To be one’s own boss and have the control, to make the money, the have the power, but to be able to make a positive impact one not only the community but individuals is a great way to be a truly successful businessman. To know that you have helped your employees to succeed and to make a great impact in them a person that is the kind of boss I want to be.
Everyone has a family, no matter if they are blood related or not. Each member of a family has a good, neutral, or even bad relationship with another family member as well. In Laura Esquivel’s novel, Like Water for Chocolate, the reader sees the different relationships between the family, especially with the mother, and how the family 's relationship in the story is so much more different than a “regular” family. You would think that every family is the same, where there is a father, a mother, and the kids, but in this novel, we see how this is not an ordinary family. The reader sees how the head of the household, which is Mama Elena, treats each of her daughters with equal harshness and aggressiveness. During the story we see the daughters, Tita, Chencha, Rosura, and Gertrudis dealing with living under their mother 's rule. There is of course a reason for Mama Elena to treat her daughters this way, such as family traditions, and how it affects the household’s life and where it stands. Family relationships, especially the mother-daughter relationship is very important , because the rise and collapse of their relationships is pretty much what makes up the majority the story, and how it affects the characters lives.
Tort reform is a push by special interest to limit tort litigation in the U.S. The documentary Hot Coffee, walks us through 4 case studies on the methods used by the Tort reform lobby. Composed of businesses, manufacturers, hospitals, insurance companies and other businesses. Using their money to affect changes to the 7th Amendment statutes:
The Stella Liebeck v. McDonald's is only one of many lawsuits that end up in the person getting a big paycheck for something that the company had no control over. Many instances are of people purposefully falling
The novel Coffee Will Make You Black by April Sinclair, is set in the 1960’s in Southside Chicago, Illinois, in a predominantly black community. The main character, Stevie, grows from a girl who doesn’t know the meaning of the word “virgin”, to a young woman discovering her sexuality. She is oppressed by boyfriends, and society. However, she resists this oppression by thinking about herself, and what she wants, instead of doing what society tells her to do and trying to please others all the time. In the end, Stevie becomes a person who is unafraid of being herself, and her feelings.
Betty Friedan was revolutionary of her time,through her infamous book The Feminine Mystique “suburban housewifes” expressed their perspective on the social mores of the 1950s. Friedan effortlessly expressed her stance of the social constructs of this oppressive time for women.When Frieden stated this quote in her book she was referring to difficult sociopolitical status of women during the 1950s. During , the 1950s it was not socially acceptable for women to work out of the home. The greatest pleasure a women would receive was devotedly taking care of her husband.The 1950s was a time of regression , women were put back into their boxes built by the materialistic society of the 50s.If a women did not have a trim figure with short maintained
Tort reform aims to accomplish this goal. Tort reform represents suggested changes in the civil justice system that intend to limit the capacity of tort litigation that victims can bring to court. Specifically,
The Overshadowing Truth Multiple lies can easily turn any righteous act into a worthless one. In the popular novel Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Relin, the superficial eye might consider Mortenson a respectable and honorable man, but a deeper investigation proves otherwise. Mortenson paints himself as a hero in his book, Three Cups of Tea, but the truth of the matter exceeds his accomplishments as he deceptively tells exciting stories throughout his book, dishonorably extends his endeavors to glorify his own public image, and intentionally abuses the power he possesses in his charity.
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin contains many of the six social studies themes. One theme that occurs within the book is Tradition and Innovation. In the book the protagonist has a goal to build a school for the children of Korphe Sadly, not everyone wants this school to be built. The tradition that many Muslim people follow is not allowing girls to receive an education “‘Allah forbids the education of girls. And I forbid the construction of this school’”(81). This action demonstrates that many people still believe women should not go to school. As well, many people will continue to follow this tradition, even as the culture changes. However, times are changing and girls are begging to receive an education. With
A local Colorado woman filed a lawsuit against Starbucks due to a drive-thru malfunction. The woman claims that a hot tea spill severely burned her and also killed her dog. Her claim is that the employee who served her did not secure the lid to her tea and also did not use the Starbucks sleeve for hot beverages. Due to this incident, the woman was forced to undergo skin grafts to treat her burns. The other tragedy is that after being rushed to an emergency veterinarian her dog died due to the injuries he received from the hot tea spill. While this case occurred in September of 2015, it was transferred from state to federal court on Wednesday September 16th 2017. During the trial Starbucks released a statement that said while they feel sympathy
In 1992 there was a case between a patron, Stella Liebeck, and McDonald’s Corporation (Brusseau, 2012). The case involved a hot cup of coffee that Stella opened, by gripping the cup in between her legs, and resulted in the hot coffee spilling and severely burning her. Fast forward to the end of the case, and we see McDonald’s Corporation held liable for the damages and forced to pay Stella Liebeck. During that time, the media had many opinions on who was right or wrong in the case. Many echoed an opinion that the hot coffee should have been an obvious indicator that the contents could cause harm. After all, when one is young they learn the difference between hot and cold and the dangers that come with each. It seems the notion of caveat emptor would fit the situation well.
At the beginning of the documentary, I thought that the whole situation with the hot coffee was pretty trivial. On one hand, I really believe that there are a lot of people that just want to take advantage of the legal system to sue whomever they want to get some free money. However, this does not mean that everyone is like that; there are many people that truly deserve to be compensated for their injuries. So, when I saw the proves, the burns, and how the media and private companies took advantage of the situation to get the attention of the general public and talk about the Tort Reform as something good that could benefit them, I really changed my mind about the case. The Tort reform is just another way that companies can protect themselves
The fascination that arose in Colonial America of drinking exotic beverages and the impact of silver led to the creation of one of the most popular household items of today. With the new invention of a new coffee brewing process developed in France, the coffee pot has trended over from Europe into the colonies where they were created in fine silver and ceramic designs. This trend that started quickly spread as colonist tastes for imported luxuries started to create the American lifestyle. The coffee pot in question was crafted between the years of 1750-60 by John Coburn, a silversmith and jeweler. The Museum of Fine Art’s describes this pieces as “Almost straight sides curving at rounded bottom, on moulded splayed foot. Moulded rim and domed cover, turned finial. Scroll handle sockets, cover hinged to upper one with acanthus drop on body. Double scroll wooden handle. curved spout, acanthus on tip and boldly fluted lower half (small oval hole inside)”.