[UnderseaLcpl]

I don't much care for Stella Liebeck's case or similar suits. Most people don't seem to realize the kind of damage these lawsuits do.

Although it isn't often looked at this way, the fact of the matter is that everyone in the entire frakking country now has to buy coffee that doesn't taste as good and doesn't stay warm on the trip to the office because Liebeck is incompetent. It might as well be a piece of legislation, because companies fear lawsuits almost as much as they fear breaking the law.

Thanks to our jacked-up legal system and Stella's groove, and old woman's lap made a decision for the entire nation and paved the path for other people who lack comprehension of the nature of things like: "containers of boiling liquid should not be emptied onto self" to be rewarded for their ineptitude. Things like that also raise insurance prices and ensure that a lot of good products don't get produced, or that some innovators don't even bother trying. Where the products do get produced, everyone has to pay more for them because it of the considerable investiture in liability and compliance with regulations that shouldn't even be necessary.

Thanks, Gram.