QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. What are the major issues in the Licheck ruse and in the following incidents? Was the lawsuit "frivolous" as some people thought or serious business?

2. What are McDonald's axial (economic, legal, and ethical) responsibilities toward consumers in the Liebeck case and the other cases? What are con-sumers' responsibilities when they buy a product such as hot coffee or hot hamburgers? How does a company give consumers what they want and yet Proltcl them at the same time?

3. What are the arguments supporting McDonald's position in the Liebeck ease? What are the argu-ments supporting Liebecle-s position?

4. If you had been a juror in the Uebeck case, which position would you most likely have supported? Why? What if you had been a juror in the pickle burn case?

5. What are the similarities and differences between the coffee burn cases and the pickle burt case? Does one represent a more serious threat to con¬sumer harm? What should McDonald's, and other fast food restaurants, do about hot food, such as hamburgers, when consumers are injured?

6. What is your assessment of the "Stella Awards*? Is this making light of a serious problem?

7. What are the implications of these cases for future product-related lawsuits? Do we my's,: live in a society where businesses are responsible for customers accidents or carelessness in using products? We live in a society that is growing older. Does this fact place a special responsibility on merchants who sell products to senior citizens?