Editorial: Hot coffee lawsuit is doused by court

Wednesday, July 12, 2000 | 9:14 a.m.

Several years ago people were stunned when a woman initially was awarded a $2.9 million judgment after she spilled coffee on herself. The ridicule didn't center on her suffering -- she received third-degree burns on her lap -- but on her claim that a McDonald's restaurant in New Mexico was responsible for her injuries. Many believed that case symbolized a litigious society that had lost its bearings.

Nevada had a similar case, too, as Lane Holmes sued a Las Vegas convenience store, the Turtle Stop, for second-degree burns he received in 1995 after he spilled coffee on himself that he purchased there. Holmes' attorney, Algimantas Bruzas, contended the store should have posted a warning that the coffee could cause injury. But last week the Nevada Supreme Court wisely upheld District Court Judge Gene Porter's granting of summary judgment for Turtle Stop and the companies that supplied the brewing equipment and cups.

Indeed, if warnings were required for coffee, what's next? As Porter noted, would knives and other utensils follow? Certainly some warnings are legitimate, such as those found on poisonous household chemicals. But placing a warning label on every product, no matter how remote the threat, is the next stop on the road to a nanny state.