Pete,

"Great Idea except that its a dumb idea."

Dumb statement!

"Place monetary limits on recoveries. Thats fine if you want to make sure that people don't get compensated for their losses."

What did Stella lose?

"Or if you want to create incentives for people to act in a dangerous manner or produce dangerous products. And of course you make it much easier for companies to design dangerous products when they can calculate exactly what there exposure is."

Life on this planet is dangerous. Spilling hot fluids on yourself is in no way the responsibility of anyone other than the person who spilled it.

"(Bob just how much is an arm worth? an eye? a life? how about years of pain?)"

Do you have answers to your own questions? If any of the answers are limitless, therein lies the problem with our judicial system and civil suit damage awards.

"And as far as frivilous lawsuits go, there are already laws which provide for sanctionbs and attorneys fees to be paid for fivilous lawsuits, but you have remember that not every time that a person loses a lawsuit is it a frivilous suit."

The laws that provide for sanctions aren't anywhere near tight enough to discourage them, and of course not every time someone loses a lawsuit is it because it was frivolous.

"THE WOMEN DID NOT RECOVER MONEY BECAUSE SHE SPILLED COFFEE ON HERSELF."

Of course she did. She spilled hot coffee on herself. An iced capo would have had a different result. You don't put cups of hot liquids in your lap and blame the folks that made the liquid hot for you getting burned due to your own stupidity.

"SHE RECOVERED MONEY BECAUSE SHE SUFFERED SEVERE BURNS AS A RESULT OF THE COFFEES BEING UNNECESSARILY TOO HOT."

No, she suffered burns because she place a cup of hot coffee between her legs in her car where she couldn't control the cup.

"HAD THE COFFEE NOT BEEN TOO HOT SHE WOULD NOT HAVE RECOVERED ANYTHING."

She would have spilled warm coffee in her lap. Might have sued because it ruined her clothing, and there wasn't a fricking warning label somewhere stating "don't put cups filled with fluids between your legs picked up at the drive-in window, you may spill them on yourself!"

Hot coffee is indeed supposed to be hot, to your mouth. Your and my mouth can take way more heat than our laps can, differing sensitivities of the contact areas of tissue.

Trial lawyers don't want tort reform. I don't wonder why. ...its pretty obvious....

Bob