Actually, although I had heard reports that she was putting on makeup, I was dead wrong. - Apparently she wasn't putting

on makeup. Instead, she was trying to force the top off the cup, and
having difficulty doing so. What she should have

done, of course, was wait until she could hold the cup securely
somewhere other han over her lap, and THEN try to get

the top off. In other words, if she was having trouble getting the top
off a cup of coffee held over her lap in a car,

she should have realized that she shouldn't continue forcing the top
off, in the car. t

But I wasn't wrong with respect to the underlying issue, which is that entire country is suffering from the

exorbitant law suit recoveries obtained by such hot shot lawyers.

I got the basic fact right, Johnathan. The BASIC FACTS are that she got a hot shot lawyer who enraged the jury

with inflammatory pictures of her burns and got a punitive judgment
against MacDonalds that was based on their

emotional reaction to the pictures, and not on any rational
consideration of whether MacDonalds, or the lady,

should pay for their was negligence. - This was confirmed when the award
was substantially reduced on appeal.

The FACTS are that judgments of this kind, and the defensive measures resulting from the threat of them, are

a major drag on our economy for both small and large business, and in
particular, a major reason our medical costs

are the highest in the world. The end result of lawsuits like this is a
continued tax on all of us due to the added

costs to business. Where they relate to medical issues, they are a
major factor in the continued rise in the costs

of health care and medical insurance, to levels beyond those that many
people can afford. In other words, Jeff,

because of tort recoveries such as that one (ignoring who was at
fault, and what both parties SHOULD have done)

punitive tort recoveries are a major reason that millions of American
citizens can't get or can't afford

meaningful health care. It's also a major factor in the precarious
status of Medicare, lack of care for the

indigent, etc., Additionally, related costs to businesses add to
unemployment and underemployment in many

sectors of our economy.

But I suppose that we got one positive result out of the MacDonalds suit. - We can now get lukewarm coffee

from MacDonalds that we can safely hold in our laps while we sit in our
car. - Does that give you some nice warm

fuzzies Jonathan? Oh I forgot. You don't go to MacDonalds.

Jim