Forced arbitration affects almost all consumers of goods and services and millions of employees who sign contracts where the fine print eliminates their right to seek justice in court. Yet forced arbitration remains an issue largely unknown to the public. That may change soon. Filmmaker Susan Saladoff through her documentary film “Hot Coffee,” presents gripping accounts of the ongoing corporate campaign to restrict individuals’ right to a civil jury trial, including Stella Liebeck’s story, which also inspired the film’s title.
Most Americans have heard of Stella Liebeck. She was the 79-year-old woman who in 1992 sought and won compensation in court in a case against McDonald’s Corp. after suffering third-degree burns on her groin, inner thighs and buttocks when the company’s too-hot coffee which was heated at dangerously high temperatures spilled onto her lap. Due to the distortions and false rumors that soon became conventional wisdom – no, she was not racing down a highway while trying to sip her coffee – Liebeck’s case became a symbol for so-called “tort reform,” or corporate efforts to give big businesses near-immunity from liability.
