Hot Coffee Observation

Hot Coffee
The movie was split into four different exhibits (or topics basically). Each exhibit was centered on a case that was heavily influenced by that specific tort reform issue. The four exhibits were as follows:
1. The Public Relations Campaign
2. Caps on Damages
3. Judicial Elections
4. Mandatory Arbitration
The first exhibit was centered on public relations and featured the case that gave the movie its name, the Stella Liebeck v. McDonalds case in New Mexico. The information presented on this case was astonishing. After listening to the “real” details of what happened to Mrs. Liebeck, I felt like a complete dummy. There was a section of this exhibit in which they were interviewing random people on the street to see what
Mrs. Gourley knew something had to be wrong so she went in for an ultrasound. Once there, she was told that the twins were in one placenta instead of two individual ones, which was believed to be situation until then. Mrs. Gourley was then informed that the reason for the decreased movement from the babies was that one of the twins was taking all of the nutrients from the other which in turn, was basically killing that baby (Colin).
She was told that she needed to deliver the babies as soon as possible or the weak baby would die. The emergency time frame given to deliver the twin boys was ten minutes. However, the babies were not delivered until two hours later! Why? The delay was due to the absence of Mrs. Gourley’s doctor. The first twin was born with no complications but the second twin, Colin Gourley, was born with severe brain damages due to this delay. His brain was deprived of oxygen for 8-10 minutes and all areas of his brain were affected.
The Gourleys went on to file a suit against the doctor, arguing that she could’ve prevented the brain damage that Colin suffered at birth by arriving at the time needed to deliver the babies and also by performing a stress test or an ultrasound at the time of Mrs. Gourley’s initial moment concern. During trial, it was discovered that the doctor had had two other malpractice lawsuits in the
She created an association directed towards women that have suffered abuse because of the mandatory arbitration clauses. During one of the meetings she attended, it was argued that a mandatory arbitration clause is supposed to aid in helping provide a better work environment for employees. I believe Jones’ incident as definitely an exception to that general rule. There is no way that her brutal rape was related to her work duties at all! To start off, she was put into a work environment that she was not told about whatsoever. I feel that Halliburton jeopardized her security and safety the moment they placed her in the living environment that they did.
Overall, the cases were weaved into each topic extremely well. It had my attention the whole entire time! It also taught me to think about everything I hear and see happening around me. It is never good to settle for what you just hear about something, always research and make sure you’re getting the full story. Also, I learned more about the tort reform policies and how it is really affecting people in all aspects of life. Our rights should never be restricted to limit the liability of wrong-doers. This is a very memorable quote I took away from the