A genetic syndrome has left Illinois resident Dawn Larson without hands or fully developed arms.
Larson has learned to lead a full life by using her feet. She’s even able to drive.
She says she’s never had a problem in public until she went through a McDonald’s drive-thru in Rockford last fall. Normally, Larson first gives the cashier her debit card to pay for the order and then grabs the food and drink with both feet.
But at McDonald’s she said they took her money at one window but wouldn’t give her the food at the next window. Larson says she felt degraded.
“She was asking for no special accommodations, she just wanted to be treated like everyone else. And that’s where I believe McDonald’s certainly violated her rights,” said Laurel Wykes Smith, Dawn’s Attorney.
30. Whatsay you & I get together with 18 & 24 and start a new KKK chapter? Don’t worry, we’ll do car washes for orphans and play cool music to win everyone over. But wait… I think I detect a little non-whiteness in their missives. (And I ain’t talking about their wives.)
RBG
RBF, yer on yer own with 18 and 24. Most of the uneducated dicks I have run into at the McD’s drive-in have been honkeys.
29—please don’t confuse me with Bippo. Actually, I make over half the posts on this site, under different medications.
She juuuuust happened to be a one of a kind, rude, black lady that was clearly overworked. That’s all… Yup… Oooops, hhhhwat is this? http://www.chrisbattaglia.com/images/custfromhellchart1.jpg
All those idiots that think the court system is flawed and Lauren who at least asked.
The Woman who was badly burned at McDonalds. I’m going on memory, but this should summeraize the case.
McD’s superheated their coffee. Coffee is usually served at 160 to 170 F. McD’s would heat their to 200 as they brewed and served it. This gave them more coffee per grounds. That worked out to $10,000 per day in extra profit.
McD did not give the nephew, who was driving the car, a cup holder tray for the coffee even though asked.
The lids did not fit properly on the McD’s cups. The cups were too thin walled to be stable. With the contents so hot, they could not be comfortably held. (this happened in the late 1980s before cup holders became so common place in cars)
The cup was set on the dash board and fell as the car went through a pot hole in front of the drive through that could not have been avoided. The cup fell on the front passenger seat and pooled on the vinyl seat.
The 80 yr old woman spent something like 11 days in the hospital with 3rd degree burns and required skin grafts.
Initially she asked that McD’s pay only her medical costs, something around $20,000. McD’s refused. They offered her a couple of thousand and a Halloween gift certificate.
During the trial, a McD’s V-P told the court that McD’s would not change their policy of superheating their coffee. Yes McD’s was aware that there had been many other people burnt because of the superheated coffee but figured they made enough profit to pay for any liability. It was a cost of doing business.
This admission was the kicker that influenced the jury that McD’s knew there was a danger and willfully promoted the danger with total lack of concern. In other words, McD’s profit’s came before injuring their customers. He also admitted that stores often ran out of accessories such as the trays but they were complimentary and not a requirement to doing business.
The original award was something like $6 million. Upon appeal, that award was reduced to something just over $200,000.
McD’s has changed their policies. They now fill potholes in the drive-through. They use their left over coffee and hamburg drippings.
BTW, the woman’s name is Stella.
I saw a documentary of a Thalidomide child a few years ago by the CBC. For those that don’t know, around 1960 pregnant women were prescribed Thalidomide to help with morning sickness. It caused birth defects, usually missing limbs.
This man smoked cigarettes. Poured hot water to make coffee (or tea). I think he also opened a screw top jar too. Later he drove a car too. This was all part of his daily life and not for the camera.
35—Yes no one should form an opinion on a legal case without reading the transcript–or at a minimum the judgement. I had not heard before that McD made a profit by overheating the coffee. Always wondered why they spent the extra money to heat it up—-thanks.
CSpan had a similar review about Darwin and Intelligent Design that applies here. There is the “real” Darwin theory, and the “talk radio” Darwin theory. The first is well accepted across many seemingly diverse fields of science, the other is that it is all random chance, that overnight a monkey turned into a human being–ie, totally wrong.
Same with the hot water McD case. I wonder if we should poke the believers balloon like this? So much more fun to get all upset and self righteous. In this respect, the Court is alot like Ann Coulter–often referenced, almost always incorrectly.
>>McD’s would heat their to 200 as they brewed and served it.
Yuck. No wonder their coffee is so shitty.
Thanks for the info.
Man, they should have waited on her hand and foot. Ooooh uhhh nevermind.
When the bus ride to hell comes please remember to pick me up.
aloha hand palmmiddle of the hand played sex i am play hand gaying
Good post. You make some great points that most people do not fully understand.
“She should get free everything for life just for her impressive motivation, determination, and awesomeness. If only more people were so determined…”
I like how you said that, Trevor. Very helpful. Thanks.
my mother has no arms and I grew up watching this happen ever where and its wrong I think that the rude and heartless people need to wake up and if sueing is what it takes then do it and never let bull happen again and by the way my mother drove for 60 years and drives better than most people ive seen on the road today
She wanted to be treated just like everybody else. Well she has. She has experienced rude, thoughtless and often careless people out in the private sector just like the rest of us. Equal opportunity. But, because she has no arms and encounters rudeness, she should sue. And get a 10 dollar gift certificate, and an apology. And be made a saint. Perhaps a ticker tape parade and a day named after her? People out there in the world are rude. They are rude to everyone, this should make her feel like one of us. Get over it.