Blog

HOT COFFEE examines the dangers of so-called tort reform and its threat to our civil justice system. Using the now-infamous legal battle over a spilled cup of McDonald’s coffee as a springboard, the film follows four people whose lives have been affected by their inability to access the courts, and examines the role of corporations and a complicit media in promoting tort reform.
Is Justice Being Served?

“Seinfeld mocked it. Letterman ranked it in his top ten list”. And more than fifteen years later, its infamy continues. Everyone knows the McDonald’s coffee case. It has been routinely cited as an example of how citizens have taken advantage of America’s legal system, but is that a fair rendition of the facts? Hot Coffee reveals what really happened to Stella Liebeck, the Albuquerque woman who spilled coffee on herself and sued McDonald’s, while exploring how and why the case garnered so much media attention, who funded the effort and to what end. After seeing this film, you will decide who really profited from spilling hot coffee.