United Flight held for Five hours??

[Captain_Smith]

They are sad to sue peple for their own mistake :l

[Sovek]

whats even more sad is that they win.

[Drew]

i think i am correct in saying some american also sued mcdonalds for her 'hot apple pie' being hot and burning her :|

[walterp]

Here are some lawsuits I found.

The famous coffee spilling one:-

In February, 1992, Liebeck, a 79-year-old woman from Albuquerque, New Mexico, ordered a 49-cent cup of coffee from the drive-thru of a
local McDonald's restaurant, which she then spilled on her lap. The hot coffee scalded her, and she subsequently sued McDonald's. In
1994, the jury awarded her US$2.7 million in damages. The award was reduced to $640,000 by the judge. The decision was appealed
by both McDonalds and Liebeck, and the parties eventually settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.

The famous fatty suing Mcdonalds :-

The McDonald's Corporation will have to answer a lawsuit filed by four New York teenagers who allege the company hid the health risks
of hamburgers and Chicken McNuggets.
The suit blames McDonald's for the teenagers' obesity and health problems, and it asks billions of dollars in damages.
McDonald's is the world's largest fast-food chain, and company officials have called the lawsuit "frivolous."
A district judge originally dismissed the suit, but an appeals court late Tuesday allowed the case to move forward and cleared the way for
the teens to demand that McDonald's turn over documents.

Some Others:-

A man riding his bike home from work at night with no lights, only reflectors, was hit by a Jeep after the driver ran a stop sign. The bicyclist
sued the bike manufacturer because he was not warned that reflectors might not be enough to prevent an accident. The man was
awarded $6 million.

A young woman sued a nightclub after she fell out of a bathroom window, knocking out two of her front teeth. She won $12,000 plus
dental expenses. (She fell from the window as she was attempting to sneak into the club to avoid the $3.50 cover charge.)

A Philadelphia restaurant was sued after Amber Carson of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, slipped and broke her coccyx on a beverage that
had been spilled on the floor. She was awarded $113,500. (Not bad, considering she had thrown the drink at her boyfriend during an
argument 30 seconds earlier.)

A woman is suing a guide-dog school for $150,000 after a blind man allegedly stepped on her foot. A dog trained at the school was
leading the man at the time.

In California, a woman sued a grocery store because a 6-pack of beer drooped on her foot. Nothing was broken, but "it hurt". She won the
case.

A San Diego man sued the city for emotional trauma during a concert when he saw women using the men's rest room.

A New York woman sued the company that makes The Clapper, claiming she "had to clap too hard in order to turn her appliances on."

A New York City ban prohibiting students from carrying cell phones to schools has some parents up in arms. In fact, a lawsuit has been
filed claiming the rule violates parents' rights to keep their children safe.

[AeroJim]

the fatty case wasnt won tho, people are idiots and the judicial system is flawed, but it actually isnt that horrible.

[Joshuah A. Wetzel]

Surprised McDonald's isn't out of business with this many lawsuits against them.

[CowlFlapsOpen]

I'm not apologist for lawyers but these cases are often more complicated than they appear. The issue for the McDonalds coffee was that McDonalds kept
the coffee at such an extreme temperature that if someone spilled it--a likely occurance in a drive through window--it was dangerously hot. If was
fair to ask whether McDonalds should have thought that through in the same way a merchant might think to put a sign on a freshly mopped floor to alert
customers, etc. Everyone agrees the judgment dollar amount was out of line however. McDonalds no longer keeps their coffee that hot and has
suffered no adverse business consequences as a result of making this small safety precaution that might have been considered before some one got hurt.

As to the original story, this was a simple mechanical delay. Once they passengers boarded, they were cool in a reasonable time. I boarded a plane
in Ft Lauderdale with exactly the same problem. It was noon and we sweated in 100+ temp inside the plane for about 40 minutes as they tried to start
the engines with a broken APU. After a time they deplaned us, had us wait about 40 minutes, while mechanics fixed the APU and started the engines and
cooled things down.

When they arrived at destination they discovered that FSPassengers had dropped their company reputation .80% :-)