LAW GROUP ASSIGNMENT

Instructions:
The Group assignment consists of 2 parts: Group Project and Group Case study
2 students per team

Recorded Oral Presentation by power point slides is required for both parts.
You will do the recording at home, and submit to me on 21 April 2020
Team members must take part in the Recorded Oral Presentation.
Students who do not take part and do not submit their recorded presentation will not be awarded
marks.

Submission: Soft copies type-written report on A4 paper are required for Group project and case
study. Support your recorded power point slides with written notes.
Submit online to my email on 21 April 2020.

Group Project Questions 1 & 2

Value 25% (Question 1 10 %; Question 2 10%; Recorded Oral Presentation 5%)
Question 1: 1000 words; value 10%
What is the difference between a tort and a crime?
Explain a legal case concerning a tort and a crime which happened in the Hospitality Industry.
Cite the reference

Question 2 Value 10%

In your opinion, why is there a Law of Torts for the Hospitality Industry?

Group Case study

Value 25%; (Question a. 10%; Question b 10%; Recorded Oral Presentation 5%)

Read the following case and answer this question in The McDonald’s Hot Coffee Case

(a) Do you agree or disagree with the decision in the "McDonald's Hot Coffee.
Explain your answer (value 10%)

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 (b) Explain what is compensatory damage and punitive damage. Give an example for each
of them. (value 10%).

The McDonald’s Hot Coffee Case

Ms Stella is 79-year-old. She bought a cup of takeout coffee at a McDonald’s drive-thru in

Albuquerque and spilled it on her lap.
She was not driving when her coffee spilled, nor was the car she was in moving. She was the
passenger in a car that was stopped in the parking lot of the McDonald’s where she bought the
coffee. She had the cup between her knees while removing the lid to add cream and sugar when
the cup tipped over and spilled the entire contents on her lap.

She suffered serious injuries. She was wearing sweatpants that absorbed the coffee and kept it
against her skin. She suffered third-degree burns (the most serious kind) and required skin grafts
on her inner thighs and elsewhere.

She just wanted McDonald’s to pay her medical expenses, estimated at $20,000. McDonald’s
only offered $800, She then sued McDonald’s.

The result:

The jury decided on $200,000 in compensatory damages, but attributed 20 percent of the fault to
Ms Stella, reducing her compensation to $160,000.
The jury also awarded Ms Stella $2.7 million in punitive damages to send the company a
message, which, at the time, represented two days’ of McDonald’s coffee sales revenue.
The judge later reduced the punitive damages to $480,000.

To avoid what likely would have been years of appeals, Ms Stella and McDonald’s later reached
a confidential settlement and settled for less than $600,000.

Defense reaction:
 Isn’t coffee supposed to be hot?
 McDonald’s didn’t pour the coffee on her, she spilled it on herself!

The evidence produced in court:

 Ms Sheila’s case is not an isolated event. McDonald’s had received more than 700
previous reports of injury from its coffee, including reports of third-degree burns, and had
paid settlements in some cases.
 McDonald’s operations manual required the franchisee to hold its coffee at 180 to 190
degrees Fahrenheit. Coffee at that temperature, if spilled, causes third-degree burns in
three to seven seconds.
 McDonald’s did not warn customers of the nature and extent of this risk;that coffee, at
that temperature when poured into Styrofoam cups would burn the mouth and throat.

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 An expert witness for the company testified that the number of burns was insignificant
compared to the billions of cups of coffee the company served each year.

Group project Case Study TOTAL

Q1 Q2 Present Qa Qb Prese 50%
10% 10% 5% 10% nt 5%
10%
Siti
Lillie
Punch
Muzza
Tee
zone
Kathy
wu
Nuzila
Mahes
Ghazal
Fu Ye