An Independence Day flick: ‘Hot Coffee,’ tort reform, and the American lawsuit – National Consumers League – National Consumers League
Ryan Morgan
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By Michael Finch, Roosevelt Summer Academy Fellow at NCL

Newspapers and the blogosphere are buzzing about Susan Saladoff’s documentary, “Hot Coffee,” which premiered July 27th on HBO. The award-winning documentary explores the issues of tort reform and mandatory arbitration clauses in contracts, and the people they can hurt. Saladoff also wrote a blog at Politico, called “Signing away constitutional rights,” which deals with the same issues as the film.

Saladoff’s Politico blog and documentary seem to be pretty effectively spreading the word about the inaccuracy of the “Americans love to file frivolous lawsuits” meme that exists in our culture.

The movie’s namesake is the widely-known and oft-maligned case of a woman (Stella Liebeck) who spilled McDonald’s coffee on herself and sued for millions. But as Saladoff’s documentary shows, the situation is nothing like people think. Liebeck’s injuries were extensive, McDonald’s had received reports that their coffee was too hot and had burnt other consumers, and Liebeck never asked for, nor did she receive, “millions.” She initially asked only for $20,000, to pay for past and projected medical expenses and loss of income. McDonald’s offered her $800. The case escalated, repeatedly, and Liebeck ended up being awarded less than $600,000 in an out-of-court settlement.

Liebeck’s case, however, is an outlier. The even more important issue that Saladoff’s film brings up is the push for tort reform. There is a great deal of risk that enacting tort reform will deprive people of help that they desperately need. People use the court system as a last resort, not as a quick way to make a buck. If the number of people suing for frivolous reasons is grossly exaggerated, then the only result of making it even more of a hassle to bring a case to court will be hampering people with legitimate concerns.

For example, medical malpractice is an area that many people say is full of frivolous lawsuits, and many tort reform discussions center around this issue. However, according to an article by Drs. John Glasson and David Orentlicher in the Journal of the American Medical Association, only 2% of “adverse events due to negligent practice” lead to malpractice claims.

For most people, the court system is simply too difficult to navigate, and the expense and time required to bring a suit outweigh the potential benefits. Unless we greatly change how we view access to and use of the American legal system, any tort reform we enact will carry too great a risk of harming innocent people.

Hopefully “Hot Coffee” will spread the truth and open some eyes to the very real dangers of mandatory arbitration clauses, and this pervasive but inaccurate view of our justice system. Susan Saladoff should be applauded for bringing attention to this very important issue.