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Tesla ordered to pay more than $3M to former worker in racism suit

cnn.com

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Re: Tesla ordered to pay more than $3M to former worker in racism suit

#181

Post by robertlagrant »

badpun wrote: post #164
vkou wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having been to Hawai'i a few times, and having seen how the native population, versus the settlers are doing, I must say, if being a settler in Hawai'i is what life under Jim Crow was, it must have all been rainbows and unicorns and sunshine. It obviously wasn't, but it's always good to see someone point to the stipulations of an indigenous treaty, while closing both eyes to the context in which it was drafted[1]...…

> [4] Unless you mean to tell us that there was some self-sustaining, secret isolated enclave of Europeans that have lived on Hawai'i prior to 1788, that only intermarried between eachother, I would expect that after a century and a half of intermarriage with native Hawai'ians, nobody either in 1920, or today would ever be able to tell the difference between that 'European' and a native. Race-based laws are nonsense,…

I think I agree, but I don't think what you say there is a good argument. You could apply it to hair colour groups (e.g. fair hair, dark hair, red hair) as well to prove the non-existence of hair colour.

Re: Tesla ordered to pay more than $3M to former worker in racism suit

#182

Post by sebzim4500 »

pyrale wrote: post #170
sebzim4500 wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would put up with almost any amount of systemic discrimination if it led to a $15M payout.

Don't forget to specify which next of kin should receive it.

Risk of death/serious injury was the "almost". In this case it was just some bad words though.

Re: Tesla ordered to pay more than $3M to former worker in racism suit

#183

Post by kevviiinn »

onethought wrote: post #177
throw0101c wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Liebeck acknowledged that the spill was her fault. What she took issue with was that the coffee was so ridiculously hot — at up to 190 degrees Fahrenheit [88C], near boiling point — that it caused third-degree burns on her legs and genitals, nearly killing her and requiring extensive surgery to treat. > McDonald’s apparently knew that this was unsafe. In the decade before Liebeck’s spill, McDonald’s had received 70…

88 degrees makes sense… you boil water to make coffee… Also you can feel via the cup how hot.

Coffee usually isn't kept near boiling after being made. That actually causes some chemical reactions in the coffee to speed up and makes it more bitter quickly

Re: Tesla ordered to pay more than $3M to former worker in racism suit

#184

Post by prepend »

throw0101c wrote: post #175
Veen wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never understood this. She bought hot coffee, put it between her legs, and spilled it. If I'd done that, I would feel foolish and blame no one but myself. What reasonable person is surprised that coffee is served hot enough to scald you?

> Liebeck acknowledged that the spill was her fault. What she took issue with was that the coffee was so ridiculously hot — at up to 190 degrees Fahrenheit [88C], near boiling point — that it caused third-degree burns on her legs and genitals, nearly killing her and requiring extensive surgery to treat. > McDonald’s apparently knew that this was unsafe. In the decade before Liebeck’s spill, McDonald’s had received 70…

Also her case forced McDonald’s to change their policy so hundreds or thousands were saved from future burns.

I think that’s the main benefit.

Re: Tesla ordered to pay more than $3M to former worker in racism suit

#185

Post by thebooktocome »

onethought wrote: post #177
throw0101c wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Liebeck acknowledged that the spill was her fault. What she took issue with was that the coffee was so ridiculously hot — at up to 190 degrees Fahrenheit [88C], near boiling point — that it caused third-degree burns on her legs and genitals, nearly killing her and requiring extensive surgery to treat. > McDonald’s apparently knew that this was unsafe. In the decade before Liebeck’s spill, McDonald’s had received 70…

88 degrees makes sense… you boil water to make coffee… Also you can feel via the cup how hot.

As cousin comment points out, these were the days of styrofoam cups. They are far more efficient heat insulators than today’s standard paper cups.

Typically people do not drink coffee at boiling temperature, for the reason that it would burn their mouths and tongues if they did.

Perhaps instead of blaming the victim, you might try to sympathize. Third degree burns to the genitals would be life-destroying.

Re: Tesla ordered to pay more than $3M to former worker in racism suit

#187

Post by kevviiinn »

watwut wrote: post #133
jeffparsons wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The McDonald's coffee incident is often cited as an example of litigation and punitive damages gone mad. Some woman got scalded by her coffee? And she was awarded how much? It's less often noted just how badly the woman was injured (third degree burns, significant amounts of skin seared off, etc.) and the details of why McDonald's was held liable (dangerous policy, not an isolated mistake). The details are worth a re…

I read about this lawsuit a lot. No women did nothing wrong or stupid. The lawsuit outcome was still bad decision with bad reasoning which is why all those writeups remain unconvincing.

You could explain why you think the outcome is bad, just saying it was bad is rather unconvincing

Re: Tesla ordered to pay more than $3M to former worker in racism suit

#188

Post by cool_dude85 »

hermannj314 wrote: post #171

Since 2021, the damages have been calculated by the brilliant minds of our legal system as $137 million, $15 million, and now $3 million. But don't you dare question the outcome in the comments here, this is serious lawyer stuff. Hell of a hustle the lawyers have built. They manage a cartel that is slow, labor inefficient and has horrendous quality control. (I almost forgot, the cartel requires I tell you I am not a…

Sorry, you believe that if you don't add a comment to your Hacker News post to say you're not a lawyer, someone will sue you?

Re: Tesla ordered to pay more than $3M to former worker in racism suit

#189

Post by rsynnott »

ethicalsmacker wrote: post #84

[flagged]

The purpose of punitive damages isn't to compensate the injured party _as such_, but to, as the name implies, punish the perpetrator. Now, there's a lot of question of whether this is a _good idea_ (in many European countries, for instance, punitive damages don't exist, and misbehaving companies will instead be subject to fines and other penalties from regulators), but the pro case is more or less "if damages are capped at actual/compensatory damages, then the company may see paying damages for certain bad behaviour as part of the cost of doing business, and make the bad behaviour part of its business model".
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