The "Mcdonalds Coffee" case

This is an interesting case:

What do you think?

In probably the most famous example of a seemingly trivial legal action is Liebeck v. McDonald’s Restaurants,also known as the McDonald’s coffee case and the hot coffee lawsuit

In 1992 Stella Liebeck, a 79-year-old woman from Albuquerque, New Mexico, bought a cup of coffee from a drive through McDonalds and as she removed the lid spilled the entire cup of coffee on her lap.

She was wearing cotton sweatpants; they absorbed the coffee and held it against her skin, scalding her thighs, buttocks, and groin.

Hospitalized for eight days while she underwent skin grafting, followed by two years of medical treatment she sued the fast food giant claiming it was too hot and more likely to cause serious injury than coffee served at any other establishment.

She won an astonishing £1.7million.

Was the jury correct to award damages?

Did the claimant deserve such an award?

Please tell us what you think :)

Legally responsible: Liable

The answer to the last quiz is c) liable.  And here's why :)

Liable (adjective): This means that a party is legally responsible for their actions or omissions under civil law. Omissions means that a party did not do something that they should have done. If a party is liable then the court will usually order the liable party to remedy the damage or problem. This can be with money, known as damages, or action, known as an injunction. Associated Words: Damages (noun), Injunction (noun), Party (noun).

Have a wonderful weekend all !

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Legally Responsible ?

In civil law, to be ________ means to be legally responsible for your acts or omissions.

a) guilty
b) punished
c) liable
d) sued

All answers, comments and shares are welcome. Don't forget to have a look at our legal English dictionaries at www.legalenglishbooks.co.uk or our paperbacks at http://www.amazon.com/Michael-Howard/e/B00GMS03VA/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_8?qid=1409593443&sr=8-8

Have a wonderful Sunday :)

Answer to legal quiz

The answer to last weeks quiz is c) to come into force.

Learn more at www.legalenglishbooks.co.uk or buy our paperbacks on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Michael-Howard/e/B00GMS03VA/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_8?qid=1409593443&sr=8-8

Have a wonderful weekend everyone !

Legal English Quiz

Hi all quiz time :)  What is the missing legal English collocation in this sentence?  Choose from the options below:

To _______ ________ _______ is a common phrase that means that a law is now in existence.

a) enter into effect
b) become a law
c) come into force
d) be good law

All comments and discussion welcome. You can find all our books on Amazon here:

http://www.amazon.com/Michael-Howard/e/B00GMS03VA/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_8?qid=1409593443&sr=8-8

Have a wonderful day :)

Vexatious Litigation

Answer to last week's quiz is vexatious. Here's our explanation of the term, taken from our book "Civil Litigation and Dispute Resolution: Vocabulary Series":

Vexatious Litigation (noun): This means that a claimant issues a number of claims that are totally without merit. Without merit means that there are no grounds or good reasons to make the claim. Vexatious litigants are usually placed on a special list and must ask the court for permission to issue a claim with the court. The courts are generally reluctant to place a litigant on the list as it restricts their access to the courts. It is, therefore, not common for litigants to be placed on the list without good reason. Associated Words: Claim (noun), Claimant (noun), Grounds (noun), To Issue a Claim (collocation).

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Or http//:www.legalenglishbooks.co.uk for more information about us. There is also a store to download our e-books.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Serial Podcast

We really recommend downloading the Serial Podcast that is currently available from

http://serialpodcast.org

Very useful for testing your understanding of criminal legal English. Plus, there's been an interesting development.....

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/07/adnan-syed-appeal_n_6636310.html