The lawsuit against McDonalds for hot coffee was a case of receiving 3rd degree burns over most of the body and demonstrating that it was because McDonalds constructed their drive-thru procedures (which they spent years and millions designing and millions in advertising to convince people to use) in a reckless and irresponsible manner (why the HELL don't they use the coffee cup holders that they HAVE).
To be fair, the plaintiff in the action was not exactly firing on all brain cells when they burned themselves. If you take a styrofoam cup in your hand and squeeze it, it distorts with very little effort. If you put a lid on the cup, the flange on the lid prevents the cup from distorting, and you have to make an effort to distort the cup. The plaintiff had stuck the cup between their legs, holding it with the pressure of their legs, and proceeded to
remove the lid -- at which point the pressure of their legs against the cup crushed it between them, fountaining the coffee across their legs. The judgement in the suit was that McDonald's was negligent in maintaining their coffee at such a high temperature that it
would cause burns if spilled; the restaurant did not have a sufficient number of disclaimers telling the user not to be an utter f**kwit (boxes of Pop-Tarts used to carry the warning "Caution: Filling will be hot when heated"), so they were liable through not having given sufficient cautions.
