Scifres gives program at chamber meeting

Everyone has their own opinion and vision when they hear about the McDonald’s hot coffee lawsuit from 1994. During the Washington County Chamber meeting Thursday, lawyer Tom Scifres presented a program showing just what happened with that case.

Scifres, a 1985 Salem High School graduate, has been a personal injury lawyer for most of his career.

He said a lot of people think personal injury cases are mostly fraudulent cases that clog up the courts. However, he said that is not always the case and the McDonald’s coffee situation is a perfect example. He showed portions of the “Hot Coffee” documentary film by Susan Saladoff, which showed the real truth behind the case and the misinformation that was going around about what actually happened.

When most people think of the case, they believe the woman was going through the drive thru, ordered the coffee and spilled it all over her lap and then sued because the coffee was hot.

Stella Liebeck, age 79, went through the McDonald’s drive thru as a passenger with her grandson driving her. She had ordered coffee to drink with her meal and requested cream and sugar. Her grandson pulled into a parking spot so they could get everything adjusted before they got back on the road. He handed her the coffee and she put it between her knees so she could add her cream and sugar and the cup tilted and spilled into her lap causing third degree burns. 

The video showed pictures of the burns and the skin graft surgeries. McDonald’s offered to pay $800 in compensatory damages. Liebeck sued. Her doctor bills were already $10,000 and were continuing to grow. During the investigation it was discovered that McDonald’s required their coffee be kept at a temperature between 180 and 190 degrees Fahrenheit. They also learned of 700 other complaints of coffee burns.

The case ended with $160,000 compensatory and $2.7 million in punitive damages. The actual amount she received in punitive damages was less after reaching an agreement later.

Scifres explained the difference between compensatory and punitive damages.

He said he does not apologize for being a personal injury lawyer. He said he was trained to believe people who brought these cases to lawyers were scummy people doing it for all the wrong reasons. However, he said there are many cases just like the McDonald’s coffee case where people were wronged.

Scifres’ law office is located on the square.

Also during the meeting:
-Marji Morris spoke about the Awareness Washington County/We the Youth Chili Cook Off March 10. The event will be held at Southern Hills Church from 4-7 p.m. For more information about signing up a team, call 812-216-6505 or email info@awarenesswashingtoncounty.org. There will also be a dessert auction, silent auction and bag raffles. Tickets for the event are $5 for adults and $3 for children.

-Jason Wade spoke about the upcoming Daddy Daughter Dance, which will be held Saturday, Feb. 24, from 6-8 p.m. at Southern Hills Church. Complementary photos will be taken beginning at 5 p.m.

This year’s theme is “Boots and Bling.”

Tickets are $25 per couple if purchased in advance and $30 at the door. There is a charge of $5 for each additional daughter. Tickets are being sold at Old National Bank, Jason Wade Start Farm Insurance, Loy and Fordyce Insurance, Country Cookin’ Restaurant and the YMCA.

Grand prizes for this year are tickets to Taylor Swift and Sugarland concerts.

-Washington County Relay for Life will hold its kick off meeting Saturday, Feb. 3, at 10 a.m. at the Bradie Shrum Elementary School cafeteria. Anyone interested in being part of this year’s event is invited to attend.

-Jason Bontrager, minister at Legacy Life Church, spoke about the church’s annual Easter celebration, which will be held March 31 from 12-4 p.m. He said they started the event over 10 years ago. Last year, they hid over 11,000 eggs with candy. He asked any business interested to set up a booth at the event. He also said they are looking for donations of candy-filled Easter eggs due to losing 50% of their eggs in the May 19 flood.

-Kelsey Dawson from the YMCA encouraged members to join the YMCA this month and take advantage of the no-joining fee currently going on. She talked about some upcoming events and new things going on at the YMCA.

-New chamber member Trina Brown talked about her new massage therapy office she recently opened across from CVS.

-Kentucky Hypnosis also recently opened a new office in the Community Learning Center.

-Chamber Marketing Director Tara Kritzer reminded members that chamber meetings will continue on the fourth Thursday of every month at noon. The location will change monthly, but Kritzer said she will send out emails to let everyone know.

She is working on another job fair in partnership with the Washington County Economic Growth Partnership for April. Anyone interested in participating can contact her and get put on the list. Last year, they had 20 businesses.

Kritzer said the spring Friday Night on the Square will be held May 18. The fall event is Sept. 14 and Old Settlers Days weekend will be Sept. 15 and 16.

The next chamber meeting will be Thursday, Feb. 22.