Ack! Bush tries to curb class actions suits!

[MRT144]

good legislation

[Chemical Ollie]

One suggestion by Bush I would support. The "sue system" was one of the few things I hated about USA even back when I was a big US fan. The system favors people who pretend to be idiots who are not responsible for their own actions. Things like getting "a billion dollars damage" for spilling coffe in your lap (it was 3 degrees too hot) or microwaving your dog (there was nothing about that in the manual).

[The Mad Monk]

It's a good bill. A national class action suit belongs in the federal courts. They didn't belong in a jurisdiction which only became eligible by the fact that a single product might have been sold in that county.

Imran, how is it that these suits haven't been covered by the interstate commerce clause?

[Imran Siddiqui]

I wasn't sure that filing a lawsuit counts as 'commerce' .

The only commerce involved is the lawyer representing the class, and they are regulate that under the ICC, but the actual suit? Nah.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Chemical Ollie
Things like getting "a billion dollars damage" for spilling coffe in your lap (it was 3 degrees too hot)

When the company had over 750 previous complaints of the coffee being so hot that it was burning people and that the person reeived 2nd and 3rd degree burns on her genitals because she couldn't rip her clothing off fast enough, yeah, I think a major judgement was warranted. Just because the woman was in her 50s doesn't mean she was never going to have sex again. Now she has scar tissue where she should have nerve endings. It is the company's responsibility to serve a safe product, and not one which will cause injuries even when used as intended (if drunk immediately it will cause burns in the mouth).

[Ming]

If she hadn't put the cup in her lap while driving her car, she wouldn't have spilled it in her lap and burned herself.

Yeah... the coffee was too hot, but I hate seeing morons like that get a cent. Drinking a too hot cup of coffee and burning your mouth is one thing... being an idiot by putting it between your legs while driving a car is another

[Chemical Ollie]

Suing tobacco companies for giving you cancer

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
I wasn't sure that filing a lawsuit counts as 'commerce' .

The only commerce involved is the lawyer representing the class, and they are regulate that under the ICC, but the actual suit? Nah.

Haven't you heard? Somewhere, somehow, it may have some effect on interstate commerce ergo the federal government has complete and total license to regulate every aspect of it.

[JohnT]

Originally posted by Ming
If she hadn't put the cup in her lap while driving her car, she wouldn't have spilled it in her lap and burned herself.

Yeah... the coffee was too hot, but I hate seeing morons like that get a cent. Drinking a too hot cup of coffee and burning your mouth is one thing... being an idiot by putting it between your legs while driving a car is another

Technically, in the stated case, the woman's grandson was driving.

And Che? If you're telling me that the chain itself, consisting of 6,000 restaurants in the US, representing $1.3 million in coffee sales alone each day (an average of 450 per US restaurant per day) has received a total of 750 complaints over a decade that the coffee was too hot... well, that ain't ****. They likely received more complaints about the quality of the McRib in the month following its introduction than they received about the "too-hot" coffee over the decade prior to the case.

She was also 79 (not in her 50's as you claimed). Not that that matters, but it helps to get your facts right when making your case.

[Kuciwalker]

stop bringing reality into this, JohnT

[orange]

Wait a minute....I go away for a year and Imran's a leftist?!

[JohnT]

Of course, the fact that coffee experts claim that the best brewing temperature for coffee is 96-98 C (195-205 F), means that McDonalds isn't making their coffee too hot... the other restaurants are serving it too cold!

[JohnT]

Originally posted by orange
Wait a minute....I go away for a year and Imran's a leftist?!

Oh, no. This complaint is hitting him in his (or his future partners') wallets. Hence the "rage".

[orange]

There's a lot of Bush-slamming going on in his posts though...?

[JohnT]

It helps him be considered "cool" around these here parts.