The actual compensatory damages portion of the McDonald's coffee law suit were $200,000, reduced to $160,000 because the jury concluded plaintiff contributed to the tort (by spilling). Punitive damages against McDonald's were 2.7M (reduced to $480,000). The plaintiff in that case suffered permanent third degree burns over 6% of her body. Askew did not suffer third degree burns over any portion of his body. In all, third degree burns -- that were ruled as a matter of law by the judge as mallicious -- accounted for around 650 thousand dollars.

Since we're on the subject, the McDonald's case is frequently cited as an example of litigation gone wrong because it makes for good writing. Everyone likes to send an email to a friend pointing out the absurdity of a woman receiving a multi-million dollar judgment because she burned herself with, duh, hot coffee. Typical response is "Well of course she did! Coffee is hot!"

The facts are that McDonalds used to keep their coffee at dangerous heats that cause serious injury. Their coffee formerly sold wasn't just a little too hot, it was a serious safety hazard that ended up burning the, among other things, genitals of a 79 year old woman. And for all the noise made about multi millions of dollars paid to plaintiff, damages were reduced to below 1M. Ultimately the parties settled in private, which is odd, so there's no telling how much McDonalds paid. But they deserved to pay for producing coffee at 180 degrees. If someone handed me a styrofome cup with a liquid heated to 185 degrees without telling me the temperature of its contents, I'd punch them in the face.