McDonald's hot coffee lawsuit Concepts

The Conservative Nanny State: How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get Richer

by Dean Baker · 15 Jul 2006 · 234pp · 53,078 words

especially effective with minimum wage laws. While higher minimum wages may hurt the profits of small businesses, the biggest losers are typically large corporations, like McDonald’s, that employ many low-wage earners. It is very helpful to these companies to hide behind the small businesses that could get hurt by

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a collection of horror stories. Probably the most famous is the one about the elderly woman who won millions of dollars from McDonald’s after she burned herself by spilling hot McDonald’s coffee in her lap while driving. A close second is the story about the would-be burglar who broke his neck by

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nanny state conservatives make a compelling case, but the reality isn’t quite the same as the myth. A key fact in the McDonald’s coffee case is that McDonald’s served especially hot coffee because the heat concealed the taste. This allowed them to use a cheaper brand of coffee, thereby increasing profits. The elderly woman

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, who suffered third degree burns, was not the first person who had complained after being scalded by McDonald’s coffee. In fact, McDonald’s received hundreds of letters

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power to unilaterally reduce the verdict. And they often use this power. Furthermore, excessive verdicts can be whittled down on appeal, as happened in the McDonald’s case. The likelihood that 12 otherwise normal people will issue a loony verdict and get it past a judge and through the appellate process

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who had brought the suits, they are also intended to punish the defendants for what the juries viewed as bad behavior. The jury felt that McDonald’s had been wrong to risk burning customers by making their coffee unusually hot so that the company could save a fraction of a penny

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on every cup. They were not simply thinking of how to compensate the woman who was burned, they wanted to teach McDonald’s a lesson that would get them to change their practices. 2 Similarly, the jury that awarded damages to the injured student wanted to send

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, unless of course the intention is that corporations and individuals not be held accountable for the harm they cause. 2 The verdict accomplished this goal. McDonald’s no longer serves super-heated coffee. 3 For a discussion of private law enforcement as a means of discouraging harmful behavior, see Posner (1986

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have little incentive to file a suit. This doesn’t just affect the people who have been harmed. In a situation like the McDonald’s coffee case, the suit forced McDonald’s to change its policy of superheating coffee. This was an outcome that benefited the larger public, not just the woman who been

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burnt. If there was no possibility of punitive damages in this case, the suit probably would not have been brought, and McDonald’s never would have changed its policy, and more people would have been injured. 4 Of course this is precisely the goal of the nanny

On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane

by Emily Guendelsberger · 15 Jul 2019 · 382pp · 114,537 words

Part Two: Convergys Week One: Twenty People Week Two: Sixteen People Week Three: Thirteen People Week Four: Twelve People Week Five: Nine People Part Three: McDonald’s Number One Number Two Number Three Number Four Number Five Number Six Conclusion: Out of the Weeds Acknowledgments Discover More About the Author Selected

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all there—quotations in the third part are written entirely from memory and notes I made on breaks. Anyway, the pace at my San Francisco McDonald’s was so frantic and the training so minimal that recording wouldn’t have been useful, anyway. About quoting coworkers: I didn’t feel right

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the companies: These are the actual companies I worked for, but that doesn’t mean this book is meant as an exposé of Amazon, Convergys, McDonald’s, or AT&T. The point isn’t that these companies are uniquely horrible. It’s that these technologies and practices are present in most

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to my professional vocabulary: If you’ve got time to lean, you’ve got time to clean. I loathed this cheery little rhyme, coined by McDonald’s founder* Ray Kroc and favored by passive-aggressive managers everywhere. It felt like I was being called lazy for taking five minutes to rest

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, startle, or otherwise trigger a worker’s stress response every time she lags behind the desired pace. (The next time you’re in a busy McDonald’s, for example, note the maddening, near-constant beeping of alarms.) Or look at the copy in a sales brochure for HM Electronics, a major

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supplier of these sorts of micromonitoring computer business systems for McDonald’s and other massive fast-food chains: Speed-of-service timers connected to prominent wall-mounted displays give employees the opportunity to compete against the

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stealing from the company, and had the minutes I spent in the bathroom tracked in a daily report sent to my supervisor. Working at a McDonald’s in downtown San Francisco, we were underscheduled to the point of a constant, never-ending line of customers—everyone worked at the frantic speed

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worked as a packer in another Kentucky fulfillment center in his early twenties. “Worst job I’ve ever had, and I worked at a goddamn McDonald’s.” “I’ve never seen psychological abuse anywhere like I’ve seen at Amazon.” “The temp agencies that Amazon uses are atrocious. They absolutely treat

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really treat its workers any better than Walmart, yet largely escapes the negative publicity.” Several other people compared Amazon unfavorably to Walmart, which has overtaken McDonald’s as popular shorthand for “the worst possible employer.” Simon Head’s 2013 book, Mindless, on the rise of productivity-enforcing technologies, spends a whole

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crawls past the bus stop, I’m overwhelmed by a surge of desperate gratitude—for my car, for the credit card I’ll use at McDonald’s, for my low-interest mortgage, for decades of regular dental care, for my college degree in two impractical subjects, for my husband’s ability

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!” “Since I’ve started this job, I have a lot less control over my four-year-old. Like—‘Whatever, screw it, I’m going to McDonald’s.’ Is that related?” “That’s right!” he says, excited. “That is exactly the same thing! Some people will turn to cigarette smoking, others it

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class clown in any group without DESTINY. Accent heavier than most. Tries extremely hard. AUNT PATTY: New hire, white woman, fifties, grandkids. Previously worked at McDonald’s and Walmart. Partner of BUTCH PATTY. Could be described as jolly, but I wouldn’t try it within earshot of her. Much like DESTINY

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of yourself during the apocalypse. Maybe your family, too. But everyone else? They can take care of their own damn selves. Fuck Darryl—I want McDonald’s. Until I began researching this book, I’d always assumed Wanda’s world was kind of apocalyptic. Like many people, I just took the

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showed up for my third shift. Presumably he’d been called to show another newbie the ropes at one of the several other Bay Area McDonald’s franchises owned by the same Asian businessman who owns this one in downtown San Francisco. Training was over. Since then, it’s been a

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Candela’s level. I can work the cash register just fine, but that’s only a fraction of the multitasking hornpipe of working counter at McDonald’s. I’d anticipated some parts of the job from my experience on the other side of the counter: Greet the customer with a smile

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hassle of delivery services. I’ve been utterly shocked by how shoddy and badly planned food-delivery apps look from this side of the counter. McDonald’s partnership with Uber Eats, for example, strikes me as exactly the sort of kludged-together monster you’d find at Convergys. She clears orders

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can get anywhere because of the city’s worker-protection legislation. At $14 an hour, I’m paid almost twice as much as the average McDonald’s crew member—in November of 2014, voters overwhelmingly passed a ballot measure that would gradually raise San Francisco’s minimum wage to $15. San

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. Toss the stirrer, grab the appropriate lid, and put it on, double-checking that it’s super secure—for reasons unclear to me, McDonald’s keeps its coffee undrinkably, scaldingly hot, and a spill can burn you in seconds. 6. Pick up the coffee, grab a tray in your other hand, and carry them

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thousand homeless people just in San Francisco proper. Nearly half of those were living in the downtown Sixth District, home to the Mission and this McDonald’s. There’s a particularly high concentration around my store, as one Yelp review complains: As many other reviewers have pointed out, this location ALWAYS

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where I simply won’t go there if there are homeless people blocking the entrance. (Which means I don’t go there at all anymore). MCDONALDS CORPORATE, PLEASE DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE HOMELESS LOITERING SITUATION AT THIS LOCATION!!!!! There are often homeless people “hanging around” the store—because they bought food

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between all the wealth and the homeless tent encampments, urine smell, and syringe detritus is truly bizarre. I don’t mind the job job of McDonald’s so far. I have literally zero time to lean outside of what’s mandated by law, but I do get genuine satisfaction from making

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’s actually hard to get down the stairs. None of them bothers asking me for money, because, as I’ve been fascinated to discover, my McDonald’s uniform is like an invisibility cloak when it comes to panhandlers. The whole time I work here, exactly one guy hits me up while

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every classmate who followed said she didn’t really have any hobbies or that her hobby was her kids. And after I get hired at McDonald’s, I have to quit the choir—my work hours are just too unpredictable to commit to rehearsals or even Sunday morning services. Our schedule

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the largest size. And they always order for here, regardless of how crowded it is or how strong the homeless smell is that day. “Is McDonald’s, like… on the checklist of things to do when you visit America?” I asked after a young guy visiting from the Philippines asked me

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came in exactly one color, because black paint dried the fastest—a microcosm of Ford’s fetish for standardization. The menu Kroc used to take McDonald’s national was similarly minimalist, with exactly three food items—Pure Beef Hamburger, fifteen cents; Tempting Cheeseburger, nineteen cents; Golden French Fries, ten cents. He

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aimed to make his burger construction line as standardized and closely measured as the Crystal Palace, decreeing, among other things, that McDonald’s burger patties must weigh 1.6 ounces and measure 3.875 inches in diameter. Don’t like a quarter ounce of onions on your

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I’d rank the maddening isolation and physical pain of SDF8 as slightly worse than Convergys’s screamers and frantic multitasking. But until Mustard Lady, McDonald’s wasn’t even in the running. I really do get satisfaction from helping people, even just with their lunch. I liked the regulars. I

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doesn’t make sense. The extra energy it takes for me to do a very good job benefits the customers, our franchise owner, and the McDonald’s brand—and I get nothing but exhaustion in return. Good-faith effort is just too complicated to measure, and therefore doesn’t exist to

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lawsuit, which is still in progress, is about more than just hours. I’ve been serving the customers of huge corporations—Amazon, AT&T, and McDonald’s. Those corporations have made the rules I follow, set the quotas I need to hit, and supplied the technology that gives them incredible top

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them. I was always employed by a third party—Integrity Staffing Solutions, then Convergys, and now this franchise’s owner. Hypothetically, Amazon, AT&T, and McDonald’s had no responsibility or liability for my work conditions, wages, or work-incurred injuries. The corporate-middleman phenomenon is a very common loophole to

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avoid accountability in the modern job market, and the McDonald’s lawsuit might mark the beginning of the end of that. My hours got cut. Who knows why? It could have been punishment for calling

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equipment or training, we just dump the hot grease into a plastic bag in a box of ice,” said Martisse Campbell, who works at a McDonald’s in Philly and whose hand was severely burned by boiling grease from a fryer. He was also familiar with condiment-as-salve suggestions—“Once

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on it; you’ll be good.’” Berry and Campbell are two of dozens of workers who filed OSHA complaints in 2015 over deliberate understaffing at McDonald’s in twenty-eight cities—they claim that the corporate-supplied scheduling system understaffs stores. Crew members are then pressured to work faster to make

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the sink and put it on my thigh, deliriously grateful that I grabbed loose pants this morning. Liebeck tried to settle for $20,000 with McDonald’s, which would have covered her medical expenses and lost wages from the weeks her daughter had to take off work to care for her

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will burn your mouth. When people make coffee at home, it’s usually between 135 and 140 degrees. In discovery, Liebeck’s attorneys found that McDonald’s required franchisees to keep their coffee between 180 and 190 degrees, a temperature that supposedly gave pots of coffee a longer shelf life and

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its coffee rather than keep getting sued every time someone was burned. But despite the headlines and the outrage, the final award in Liebeck v. McDonald’s wasn’t actually millions. When Liebeck died—in 2004, at the age of ninety-one—the local newspaper ran a follow-up story on

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the temperature at which its franchisees are supposed to keep their coffee. You still have to wait a while before drinking coffee brewed according to McDonald’s standards if you don’t want to get burned. And if you spill it on yourself—or if someone throws coffee at you—it

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all the ways Convergys was miserable, at least during training there was time to make friends. It was a far less efficient workplace than this McDonald’s is. I remember a conversation Kolbi and I had about her Chick-fil-A once. “Honestly, the only reason I stayed there so long

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the details right: PATTON OSWALT: Correct me if I’m wrong, but Rick and Morty mentioned a Szechuan sauce that then people demanded from McDonald’s, and McDonald’s flippantly said, “Nah, we don’t have it,” and then it’s caused a huge—it was literally the number one trending topic

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it, and a lot of stores that did ran out immediately. So there were hundreds and thousands of insanely pissed-off nerds screaming about how McDonald’s did not give them the Szechuan sauce that they’d been promised. FROST: Never get between a virgin and their condiments. VIRGIL TEXAS: People

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were fighting; the police were called at several locations to guard the McDonald’s. The train stops between stations underground, and a voice mumbles something about a delay over the intercom. People groan. With the seal on Szechuangate

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THE SAUCE!” I can hear the guy holding the camera laughing, but it’s honestly kind of terrifying. In another video shot outside the same McDonald’s, a line of what looks to be at least five hundred people snakes around the block, flanked by cop cars. Almost all the coverage

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sauce. There’s stories about Szechuan sauce packets posted on eBay for thousands of dollars and compilations of tweets from disappointed fans, like this one: @McDonalds drove 4 hours at 6am from Canada for that #szechuansauce—no sauce, wouldn’t even give us a poster :( #iwantmymcnuggetsauce There’s multiple interviews with

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world reading that I was willing to do so much for so little. On the other hand, I cringe imagining coworkers from Amazon, Convergys, and McDonald’s reading that I was paid so much for such comparatively easy and rewarding work. Whatever it means to others, $36,000 was a living

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people—or even people who know poor people—don’t really get elected. Two out of five people in Congress as I’m working at McDonald’s are millionaires. Their combined personal wealth adds up to $2.43 billion. And they’ll spend half their time* in DC schmoozing even wealthier

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cream. But for that beautiful minute, we’re free to giggle and shriek and be human beings. It’s my happiest memory of working at McDonald’s. And then, finally, I get to leave the weeds. Conclusion: Out of the Weeds Imagine a great white shark, a solitary apex predator. Her

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Furniture Wars: How America Lost a Fifty Billion Dollar Industry, Michael K. Dugan Closing: The Life and Death of an American Factory, Cathy N. Davidson McDonald’s: Behind the Arches, John F. Love On the history of work and management The Principles of Scientific Management, Frederick Winslow Taylor The One Best

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-be-monitored-for-tone-and-emotion/. 4. I’m using MIT’s living-wage calculator for the furniture cluster—http://livingwage.mit.edu. Part Three: McDonald’s 1. J. M. Weiss, “Effects of Coping Behavior with and Without a Feedback Signal on Stress Pathology in Rats,” Journal of Comparative and Physiological

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who own the resources needed to make things or provide services that can be sold for a profit—a car factory, fields of strawberries, a McDonald’s franchise, a hotel, an angel investment—and the money to pay people who work at turning those resources into more money. “Labor” refers to

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eyes and says that the show Silicon Valley is basically a documentary. * I pick up a bunch of weird and extremely specific new stereotypes at McDonald’s; one is that ordering a mixture of two different fountain drinks is a black-people thing. * That’s literally the same price as a

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very prominent, official-looking sign in the back of my store strictly detailing how to handle press inquiries—give them the phone number for the McDonald’s corporate PR and don’t say anything to them. * The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the party organization that works to elect Democrats to the

Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value (And How to Take Advantage of It)

by William Poundstone · 1 Jan 2010 · 519pp · 104,396 words

$2.9 Million Cup of Coffee In 1994 an Albuquerque jury awarded Stella Liebeck $2.9 million in damages after she spilled a piping-hot cup of McDonald’s coffee on herself. This resulted in third-degree burns and precious little sympathy from the American public. Late-night comics and drive-time DJs turned

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“Stella Awards”—booby prizes for the wackiest perversions of the justice system. Liebeck’s injuries were no joke. Her grandson had driven her to the McDonald’s drive-through window. They bought the coffee, then pulled over and stopped the car so that Mrs. Liebeck could add cream and sugar. She

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groin, buttocks, and thighs. The tricky question was, how do you put a price on Liebeck’s suffering and McDonald’s culpability? Liebeck initially asked the fast-food chain for $20,000. McDonald’s dismissed that figure and countered with a buzz-off offer of $800. Liebeck’s attorney, New Orleans–born

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had third-degree burns from a coffee spill. In his most mesmerizing Deep South baritone, Morgan advanced the legally ingenious theory that McDonald’s coffee was “defective” because it was too hot. McDonald’s quality control people said the coffee should be served at 180 to 190 degrees Fahrenheit, and this was shown to be

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was settled for $27,500. Morgan monitored subsequent coffee lawsuits closely. He knew that in 1990 a California woman had suffered third-degree burns from McDonald’s coffee and settled, with no great fanfare, for $230,000. There was one big difference. In the California case, it was a

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McDonald’s employee who had spilled coffee on the woman. Since Liebeck had spilled the coffee on herself, logic would say that her case was worth a lot less than $230,000.

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. He slashed the punitive damages to $480,000. Even with the reduced award, an appeal from McDonald’s was inevitable. The eighty-one-year-old Liebeck wasn’t getting any younger. She soon settled with McDonald’s for an undisclosed amount said to be less than $600,000. She must have recognized

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note of behavioral decision theory was the law. There was some eye-opening research on jury award anchoring published in the years before Liebeck v. McDonald’s. In a 1989 study, psychologists John Malouff and Nicola Schutte had four groups of mock jurors read a description of an actual personal injury

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than they would have with a more sensible demand. Psychologists Gretchen Chapman and Brian Bornstein tested this idea in a 1996 experiment, when Liebeck v. McDonald’s was much in the news. They presented eighty University of Illinois students with the hypothetical case of a young woman who said she contracted

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the award. There was thus no evidence that the billion-dollar demand hurt the credibility of the plaintiff’s case. S. Reed Morgan, of the McDonald’s coffee lawsuit, has described attorneys such as himself as “entrepreneurs.” By seeking liability suit jackpots, professional litigators provide incentives for big companies to worry about the

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attorneys for cues on how much that’s worth in Earth dollars. Morgan succeeded in convincing the Liebeck v. McDonald’s jurors to feel outrage. His case was two-pronged: that McDonald’s coffee was hotter than many of its competitors’ and that the fast-food chain had been insensitive to the scope of

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Liebeck’s injuries. In the penalty phase of the trial, Morgan asked the jurors to penalize McDonald’s in the amount of one or

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two days of the company’s worldwide coffee sales. He wasn’t counting on the jury to do the math. Morgan informed them that McDonald’s coffee sales came to about $1.35 million a day. $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ Huh

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. Why one or two days? Why worldwide sales, as opposed to just in the United States, or just in New Mexico, or just the coffee that McDonald’s sold to Stella Liebeck on the day in question (49 cents’ worth)? Thinking about it was the point. It is believed that an effective anchor

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that it is recalled each time the decision is revisited. Morgan’s non sequitur demand was, if nothing else, memorable. A day or two of McDonald’s coffee sales has the ring of poetic justice. It framed the deliberations, encouraging the jurors to construct their own two-part question: (a) Is a day

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of birds are being killed. We should do something about it. Morgan most definitely wanted the Liebeck jurors to scale their award to McDonald’s deep pockets. (Not many hot-coffee suits get filed against mom-and-pop diners.) This is another reason “days of coffee sales” was an effective currency. Once the jurors

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easy out, favorable to his client. The Liebeck jury settled on $2.7 million in punitive damages, exactly two days’ worth of coffee sales by Morgan’s estimate. It’s hard to deny that Morgan’s demand was a compelling influence. Going by the research, Morgan’s only blunder may have been not

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buyers are too smart to fall for it. Donald Lichtenstein compares the reference price effect to certain urban legends. A rumor once went around that McDonald’s used ground earthworms in its hamburgers. Sales plummeted as much as much as 30 percent in some areas. Practically nobody believed the rumor. Certainly

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intriguing experiment conducted by Daniel Kahneman, David Schkade, and Cass Sunstein. They wanted to see whether they could induce jurors to award crazy, Liebeck v. McDonald’s amounts for injuries that weren’t all that serious. They also wanted to test a simple, practical remedy, a way of bringing sanity and

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separate figure. They debate the amount among themselves and try to talk reason into outliers (as was reported to have happened with the Liebeck v. McDonald’s jury). Nevertheless, there have been studies showing that deliberating groups, and juries in particular, have no better judgment than the individuals making them up

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“defective”: Gerlin 1994. 4 180 to 190 degrees: Marinello 1995. 4 Settled for less than $600,000: Robbennolt and Studebaker 1999, 354. 4 Negotiations with McDonald’s, settlement amounts: Gerlin 1994. 4 “The jar used to have”: Marketplace radio show, American Public Media, Jan. 8, 2009. Available at marketplace.publicradio.org

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., R. D. Rogers, and T. Duka (2005). “The Acute Effect of Alcohol on Decision Making in Social Drinkers.” Psychopharmacology 182, 160–69. Gerlin, Andrea (1994). “McDonald’s Callousness Was Real Issue, Jurors Say, in Case of Burned Woman.” The Wall Street Journal, Sep. 1, 1994. Gigerenzer, Gerd (1996). “On Narrow Norms

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, 114 Family Guy, The (television show), 246 FareCompare.com, 183 Farrelly brothers, 109 fast food: bundling of, 160; charm prices of, 186, 188; see also McDonald’s Fechner, Gustav, 29–32, 39, 224 50 Cent, 186, 188 FIFO (first-in-first-out) inventory valuation, 227 Firesign Theatre, 175 Fisher, Irving, 223

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Brothers, 268 Leipzig, University of, 30 Lichtenstein, Donald, 204–206 Lichtenstein, Sarah, 10, 28, 53, 62–77, 79, 81, 82, 87, 90, 220 Liebeck v. McDonald’s (1994), 3–4, 17– 21, 276, 278 LIFO (last-in-first-out) inventory valuation, 227 Liquid Trust, 253 Little Book on Life After Death

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for Evolutionary Anthropology, 123 Max Planck Institute for Human Development, 126 Maxwell House coffee, 149 Mazar, Nina, 193 McCabe, Kevin, 129–30 McClearn, Karen, 166 McDonald’s: hot coffee lawsuit against, 3–4, 17–21, 276, 278; worm rumors about, 206 Mead, Nicole, 284–86 menus, 159–64 Mercedes Benz, 7 Merck & Company, 6

The Lufthansa Heist: Behind the Six-Million-Dollar Cash Haul That Shook the World

by Henry Hill and Daniel Simone · 31 Jul 2015 · 446pp · 126,222 words

beliefs in this tome, and the relentless pursuit they embarked on to see it published. Most deserving of special thanks are US Attorney Emeritus Ed McDonald, former FBI Special Agents Steve Carbone and Ed Guevara, and retired Port Authority Captain Henry Degeneste. They readily availed themselves to me and endured

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Strike Force pampered its personnel extravagantly. The room bustled with noisy conversations, and the entire floor was decorated with pine-scented wreaths and garlands. Ed McDonald, a handsome thirty-year-old, welcomed the softer schedule of the Christmas season. His supervisor, chief of the Strike Force, Thomas Puccio, “a workaholic,”

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to Lufthansa. Thus, he rightfully surrendered the reins to his top deputy. Entrusted as the lead prosecutor to unravel a crime of enormous significance weakened McDonald’s knees. Soon, though, as the queasiness allayed, the prospect of racing up the ladder stabilized the young US attorney’s legs and boosted

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New York City skyline and the Brooklyn Bridge left him breathless. “This view is relaxing, Ed.” He smiled, his body sagging in a chair opposite McDonald. McDonald was out of uniform, outfitted as if he’d been shooting hoops on a basketball court. He had left the black suit in his closet

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move this investigation forward, we can mitigate the subpoena violation, and you can return to your life.” Gruenwald looked puzzled. “What does mitigate mean?” McDonald nonchalantly wandered to the opposite side of the table where Gruenwald was sitting. He placed his hands on the back of Gruenwald’s chair and

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discerned that Peter Gruenwald did not have the skin for larceny; he was simply brainless. “Peter, I’m sorry you’ve got this terrible cold,” McDonald sympathized. “Hope they gave you something for it.” Gruenwald didn’t answer and blew his nose between coughing spells, the hacking dry and strenuous.

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’s his last name?” “He never told me.” “Mr. Menna, we know you’re a numbers runner. Who are you working for?” Menna glanced at McDonald and then at Carbone. “Marty Krugman,” Menna said, swallowing hard. Carbone smirked. “You mean Krugman, the proprietor of the wig salon off Queens Boulevard?”

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“Uh-huh,” Menna grunted. McDonald nodded at Carbone to step out into the hallway with him. He closed the door. “Steve, what do you know about this Marty Krugman?” “He

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down with him. “All right, Henry. I’m only gonna stand pat until the weekend. After that, well, whatever happens, happens.” 54 Carbone and McDonald decided to detain and interview Krugman. “I checked him out,” Carbone informed. “A year ago, Krugman plead guilty to a narcotics charge and was given

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a suspended sentence.” McDonald stared at Carbone as if something of meaning came to mind. “Interesting.” He wagged his forefinger to lead his thought. “If we implicate Krugman in

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mess Lou got us into.” Janet’s complexion darkened to a sickly green. No one, Werner included, knew of Gruenwald’s cooperation with Carbone and McDonald. McDonald had instructed Gruenwald not to mention their arrangement and the plea deal they’d consummated: Gruenwald’s testimony against Louis Werner as a trade-off

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, offered, “Ms. Barbieri, do you want someone to drive the van and take you home?” Without uncovering her mouth, she nodded gratefully. 57 Ed McDonald was a devoted husband and father, and sadly his weekends dashed fleetingly into Monday morning. With a wife and two elementary school-age children, some

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the spectators were journalists and media-related people. Werner stood to the left of his attorney, a court-appointed public defender. To their right were McDonald and Guevara. It was excessively noisy, and Judge Costantino hammered his gavel. “Everyone quiet down. This court is in session,” he proclaimed, scowling over

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robbery?” Werner’s lawyer, rigidly erect, his chin tilted slightly upward, responded, “Not guilty, Your Honor.” Reading from notes in his hand, enunciating clearly, McDonald applied to the court, “Your Honor, the prosecution requests the defendant to be held without bail.” In support, the US attorney argued, “The defendant is

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physical act of the robbery or simply conspired to abet it, the sentencing guidelines are the same.” The defense counselor returned a consenting gaze, allowing McDonald to complete the loop. “The sentencing guidelines for such an offense are quite rigorous. In short, Lou, even if your complicity is only to

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What’s wrong?” “He might be having a heart attack,” Guevara guessed. “We should call 911.” Werner’s spastic jerking and heaves were escalating violently. McDonald grabbed the pitcher on the table, poured water into a glass, and knelt next to him. “Lou, drink some water.” Werner seemed to be choking

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ashen, Gruenwald exclaimed, “Rufen Sie einen Doktor an.” He corrected himself and repeated in English, “Something’s going on with him. Call a doctor!” McDonald went for the phone to dial 911, but Werner’s symptoms, whatever spurned them, abated. He rebounded, though his coloring remained blanched. He drank a

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pattern. The inclination to take chances was greater with Italian Americans. Carbone, though, “had a hunch” that bugging Sepe’s automobile might yield results. McDonald massaged his eyelids and groaned. “This is the last warrant I’m going for. Unless you come up with indictable evidence, don’t come begging

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, consorting with another parolee—his passenger. Sepe and his friend had vaguely discussed a murder, plus they talked, though garbled, about “buried money.” But McDonald wasn’t ready to celebrate. “Steve, the only charge that will stick is Sepe’s parole violation. The rest is conjecture, minus indictable evidence.” Carbone

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.” “If we cannot muster material evidence implicating Sepe in a Class A felony, or minimally, a preponderance of circumstantial evidence, why would he crack?” McDonald contemplated. “He’s a veteran criminal and knows the most he can be imprisoned for a parole violation is sixteen months. And a mere sixteen

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t sleep well. The opposition wasn’t having pleasant dreams either; Wells and Carbone’s victory scarcely outlasted the lifespan of a fly. And to McDonald’s mortification, Carbone had not exhumed any corroborating proof verifying the nuances that the bug in Sepe’s Thunderbird had recorded the previous week. “

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train to Penn Station on 34th Street. Then a taxi ride to the FBI furtive location was less than fifteen minutes. No escorts, no fanfare. McDonald and the stenographer entered the apartment. The newly arrived glanced around, taking in the whiff of fresh-brewed coffee. Carbone offered, “Help yourselves. I

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just made it.” McDonald introduced the stenographer: “Steve, this is Lina Applegate.” Carbone smiled weakly and gave Ms. Applegate his hand. “Pleased to meet you. Get some coffee

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with ire, Ahearn thumped the receiver onto its cradle. “Damn it, Steve. You shouldn’t have let the Caforas be on their own without protection.” McDonald fumed, but at this advanced and inconclusive stage, he was beyond frustrated. Carbone smacked his palms together. “Oh, yes, Monday morning quarterback. Should’ve,

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, asked, “What does divulged mean?” The judge interceded. “It means to make known, Ms. Barbieri.” His Honor gaped at the US attorney. “Proceed, Mr. McDonald.” Feigning struggling to breathe, the witness tugged at the turtleneck of her collar and clutched her neck. Fearful the woman had gone into cardiac arrest

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and McMahon to realize the danger they were in, and . . .” “I’m disturbed by it. But it’s water under the bridge, Steve.” And McDonald ended the phone conversation. Carbone, admirably, was undeterred and started working on another angle, Paolo Licastri. Intelligence culled by Guevara brought forth inklings of Licastri

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an inmate of the Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary. His name is Louis Werner. If you accept the charges, press one. This call may be monitored.” “Hello, McDonald here.” “Hello, Ed, this is Lou Werner.” “Well, this is a surprise.” Werner chuckled, a strenuous put-on. “You never know what can happen

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significance of this last sentence, a sudden uplift of hope. Feeling weightless, he called Carbone. “I think we got a gift out of nowhere.” McDonald’s upbeat mood made Carbone envision the tides swinging in their direction. “What about, Ed?” The US Attorney repeated to Carbone his conversation with Fox

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floors below his office to the federal courthouse and into Judge Costantino’s chambers. The judge had left his door ajar to circulate fresh air. McDonald, tie unraveled, craned his neck inside the room, perspiration darkening the armpits of his shirt. “Excuse me, Your Honor.” Judge Costantino, white-haired and

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Florio paced frantically in the reception area, huffing in exasperation; his damp jacket was somewhat drier, though his skull looked steamier and redder. At last, McDonald appeared at the end of the hallway, a thick brown manila folder under his arm. Strutting briskly in the direction of the reception desk, arm

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grand jury this morning.” Sensing Florio’s fury losing steam, McDonald turned on his graciousness. In a toasty warmth he said, “Let’s go to my office and relax. Looks like you had a rough commute.” Drinking hot coffee and breathing slower, Florio’s inflamed mood had cooled, and his jacket and shirt were

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drying. McDonald tilted back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. “I believe Hill will cooperate with

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pending narcotic charges.” Florio didn’t belabor the point and adhered to his professionalism. “Is Hill represented by legal counsel?” “He is, for the moment,” McDonald answered laughingly, “but he will dismiss him.” Florio looked uncertain. “Why?” “Hill’s lawyer, Richard Otto, is also Paul Vario’s attorney and close

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tristate narcotics operation and identify his co-conspirators. In exchange, Florio consented not to prosecute Hill for the Nassau County indictments, consigning him exclusively to McDonald. Florio was content with this. Thanks to Hill, they were about to land the big prize, Governor Carey. The rest of Hill’s partners

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to national notoriety. Books and movie deals, or a variety of lucrative offers from the private sector might come knocking. Last but not least, McDonald’s wish to jail Jimmy Burke and his delinquents promised an exhilarating reward. He visualized headlines from New York to California touting him as one

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and stepped down from the bench, head shaking, his black robe fluttering as he burrowed through the oak-wainscoted door leading to a private chamber. McDonald, Guevara, and Carbone walked briskly out of the courthouse, an anticipated victory in their bounce. Enlivening the day, was the mid-fall season, bedecking

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custody of the Federal Witness Protection Program. You should receive the memorandum in about two to three days.” Feuerbach was law secretary to Judge McElhone. McDonald stripped off his trench coat and tossed it sloppily on one of the chairs near his desk. Florio was humiliated. The career-making event,

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at the hotel I was staying.” “The conscientious? What the hell is a conscientious?” Carbone remarked. Everybody in the room glanced at each other, and McDonald asked, “Henry, did you say conscientious?” My face must’ve showed confusion as well. “Am I missing something here? You people don’t know

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what a hotel conscientious is? You know, the man at the front desk who gives out information to the guests.” McDonald’s chest heaved. “You mean a concierge?” “Yeah, a conscientious. ” “OK, we understand. So his name is Neil Pendergrass?” “Yeah, we bullshitted about bettin’

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Henry Hill, unfazed by the icy eyeballing from his coconspirators, testified that, in concert with those defendants, he had fixed the Boston Eagles basketball games. McDonald and Carbone were pleased with Hill’s performance and prayed for the second witness to be as effective. The media barreled into the courtroom with

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and/or Mr. Hill perform any services or pay you any form of compensation?” “Yes,” Pendergrass answered in a whispery hush. Pointing with his finger McDonald directed the witness to where Burke was seated. “Please describe the favors you received from the defendant and/or Mr. Hill.” “They . . . they placed

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betting on the college basketball games, Mr. Pendergrass?” The spectators listened intently to the exchange. Reluctance slowing Pendergrass, he flitted his glances from Burke to McDonald, and then up at the judge, who commanded tersely, “Please answer the question, Mr. Pendergrass.” Pendergrass unbuttoned his brown blazer and mustered the courage

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convicted and sentenced to ten years, and Earnie Cobb was acquitted. Jim Sweeney was not tried and, somehow, skated clean. Although Burke was imprisoned, McDonald and Carbone did not forsake taking advantage of Hill’s deep-rooted knowledge of the Lucchese Mafia family’s inner workings. From Hill’s ramblings

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“I’m gettin’ to it. Relax. Anyway, Sepe found out Eaton lived in one of those roachers somewhere in Greenwich Village.” “What’s a roacher?” McDonald asked. “Those old, smelly tenements downtown New York with roaches crawling on the floors and walls.” “I see. Go on.” “Jimmy and Sepe paid Eaton

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m doing my best trying to remember,” I shot back. “It was around Gravesend or Coney Island. Or maybe it was in Sheepshead Bay.” 109 McDonald telephoned four precincts in the Gravesend Bay and surrounding neighborhoods: Bensonhurst, Borough Park, Sheepshead Bay, and Canarsie. Navigating by phone ultimately led him to

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Jim Sweeney and Earnie Cobb, were not convicted for their participation and, as of this writing, steadfastly maintain their innocence. Former deputy US attorney Edward McDonald provided comprehensive information regarding his perspective of the crime and the attempted prosecution of the suspects presumed to have partaken in the audacious burglary. Mr

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killing just as the investigators were scraping at their heels, dampening the momentum of the investigation. Among a wealth of particulars he imparted, Mr. McDonald recalled his efforts to negotiate plea bargains with the only two individuals charged in connection with the burglary. One of them, Louis Werner, a Lufthansa

Frommer's Hawaii 2009

by Jeanette Foster · 2 Jan 2008 · 675pp · 344,555 words

and helpfulness. The other plus: It is unbelievably cheap! Plus, the rates include a small continental breakfast (if you’re still hungry, there’s a McDonald’s nearby). The beach is just across the street. Laie Inn 55–109 Laniloa St. (off Kamehameha Hwy., near the Polynesian Cultural Center), Laie, HI

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(including meatless), are now in regular supply. 2080 S. King St., Suite 105 (near McCully St., across the street from It’s Chili in Hawaii McDonald’s). & 808/945-7070. Hungry patrons line up for everything from pizza and plate lunches to quick, authentic, and inexpensive Vietnamese, Thai, Italian, Chinese, Japanese

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Ranch, an 8,500-acre ranch with cattle and sheep; and Honopua Farm, featuring organic vegetables, fresh cut flowers, and renowned master lei-maker Marie McDonald, a Smithsonian National Treasure. At the conclusion of the tour, participants are bused back to Merriman’s restaurant to enjoy the products they have just

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. HANA Set between an emerald rainforest and the blue Pacific is a village probably best defined by what it lacks: golf courses, shopping malls, and McDonald’s. Except for a gas station and a bank with an ATM, you’ll find little of what passes for progress here. Instead, you’ll

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image, the Valley Isle is fertile ground for Hawaii’s famous enterprising chefs (like Roy Yamaguchi from Roy’s, Gerard Reversade of Gerard’s, James McDonald of I’O and Pacific’O, Peter Merriman of Hula Grill, Mark Ellman of Maui Tacos and Mala Ocean Tavern, D. K. Kodama of Sansei

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the Old Lahaina Luau (see “A Night to Remember: Luau, Maui Style” on p. 487) have teamed up with the culinary prowess of chef James McDonald (I’O and Pacific’O), placed it in a perfect outdoor oceanfront setting, and added the exquisite dancers of the Old Lahaina Luau. The result

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, DC, DISC, MC, V. Daily 6–9pm. PACIFIC RIM I’O is a fantasy of sleek curves and etched glass, co-owned by chef James McDonald. He offers an impressive selection of appetizers (his strong suit) and some lavish Asian-Polynesian interpretations of seafood, such as his “rainbow catch”—fresh fish

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, or the silken purse: wontons stuffed with roasted peppers, mushrooms, spinach, macadamia nuts, and tofu over a tomato coulis with creamy basil-yogurt puree. Chef McDonald also owns Pacific’O Restaurant (reviewed below) and is the chef for the Feast at Lele (reviewed above). I’O 505 Front St. & 808/661

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she was 16 years old. Today this tiny wooden coffeehouse, still fueled by homegrown Haleakala coffee beans, is the quintessential roadside oasis. Grandma’s offers espresso, hot and cold coffees, home-baked pastries, inexpensive pasta, sandwiches (including sensational avocado garden burgers), homemade soups, fresh juices, and local plate-lunch specials that change daily

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the water. Experienced windsurfers here are found in front of the Maui Sunset condo, 1032 S. Kihei Rd., near Waipuilani Street (a block north of McDonald’s), which has great windsurfing conditions but a very shallow reef (not good for beginners). Hawaiian Island Surf & Sport, 415 Dairy Rd., Kahului (& 800/231

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has gained a following for its affordable, authentic Thai food and casual atmosphere. Tucked into a corner of a small shopping complex (look for the McDonald’s on the highway), Toi’s serves savory dishes utilizing fresh herbs and local ingredients, many of them from the owner’s garden. Popular items

Circle of Greed: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Lawyer Who Brought Corporate America to Its Knees

by Patrick Dillon and Carl M. Cannon · 2 Mar 2010 · 613pp · 181,605 words

in their logic, or civil cases in which the verdict sounded comically excessive: $3 million in damages to the New Mexico woman who put her hot McDonald’s coffee cup between her legs—and was scalded when she opened the lid by pulling it toward herself; $2.7 million to the West Virginia convenience

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’s extortion racket run by strike-suit lawyers is that today’s lawyers’ conduct is technically legal.” Seamlessly making the Republicans’ recent transition from the McDonald’s coffee case to securities class actions, Cox continued: “At the hands of a small band of amoral plaintiffs’ lawyers and their allies on the bench and

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. No injury, real or imagined, occurs in America today without a lawsuit to compensate the alleged victim—whether it is a cup of hot coffee in a woman’s lap in a moving car or a drop in a stock price caused by bad luck in the stock market. Every accident comes with

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their case with Clinton? Lerach had certainly been supportive of Clinton and his political party. The year before, he’d attended one of Clinton’s notorious “White House coffee” fund-raisers, immediately afterward forking over $90,000—half in his name and half in his wife, Star’s—to the Democratic National

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, lawyers, and pundits had lined up on the side of Charter Communications’ vendors. Just as an earlier generation of Republicans had caricatured the infamous McDonald’s spilled coffee case, conservatives now singled out Stoneridge as a poster child for litigation run amok. It was easier to play this card in an obscure business

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Allen, “Judge Approves Great American Case Settlement,” San Diego Daily Transcript, August 12, 1993. “Give me a hint”: Ibid. “Plaintiffs seek to represent”: James P. McDonald, “Milberg’s Monopoly: Restoring Honesty and Competition to the Plaintiffs’ Bar,” Duke Law Journal, December 1, 2008. “to prove every word”: Mark Hansen, “Expert Sues

Frommer's California 2007

by Harry Basch, Mark Hiss, Erika Lenkert and Matthew Richard Poole · 6 Dec 2006 · 769pp · 397,677 words

have wireless access. Check www.wifi411.com for a huge list of Wi-Fi hotspots—including every Starbucks coffee shop, Kinko’s copy store, or McDonalds—or stop by one of the following locations around town where you can get online access, perhaps with a sandwich and a cup o’ joe

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, but on weekends, it’s a straight-up people zoo, where patrons of every age and persuasion coexist more peacefully than the cast in a McDonald’s commercial. Expect to boogie down shoulder-to-shoulder to live bands playing blues or funk. Pier 23, at the Embarcadero and Greenwich St. & 415

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three museums in one: exhibitions of works by California artists from Bierstadt to Diebenkorn; collections of historic artifacts, from Pomo Indian basketry to Country Joe McDonald’s guitar; and re-creations of California habitats from the coast to the mountains. The museum holds major exhibitions of California artists and art movements

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supplied by the property’s mineral springs. Carports are located behind each building. The inn also has a steakhouse, retro-flavored coffee shop, and the Cattleman’s Lounge, a local hot spot featuring live entertainment on weekends. Tip: Avoid room numbers beginning with 1 or 2—they’re too close to the street

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orchards and open fields, the scenery punctuated only by ambling livestock or a rustic wood fence. At Benson Avenue in Upland, a classic 1950s-style McDonald’s stands on the southeast corner, its golden arches flanking a low, white, walk-up counter with outdoor stools. The fast-food chain has its

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roots in this region: Richard and Maurice McDonald opened their first burger joint in San Bernardino in 1939. The brothers expanded their business, opening locations throughout Southern California, until entrepreneur Ray Kroc purchased

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the chain in 1955 and franchised McDonald’s 634 CHAPTER 15 . THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA DESERT nationwide. Farther along, look north at the intersection of Euclid Avenue for the regal monument to pioneer

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Gold Discovery State Historic Park, 344 McArthur–Burney Falls Memorial State Park, 275 McCallum Theatre for the Performing Arts (Palm Desert), 652 McClendon Ford, 233 McDonald’s (Upland), 633–634 Medical insurance, 33 Medical requirements for entry, 23 Melrose Avenue (Los Angeles), 464 shopping, 561–562 Mendocino, 13, 211–218 accommodations

The Rough Guide to Mexico

by Rough Guides · 15 Jan 2022

rooms in an attractive orange-and-white building set around a small shaded courtyard. All have Sky TV, a/c, wi-fi and hot water, and there’s free coffee in the lobby. M$ Posada Doña Lala Carranza 11, close to river and zocalo; 288 884 2580. The fanciest place in town, comfortable

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: draped fishing nets festooned with shell pictures, shell mobiles and shell lampshades. Moderately priced meat and great seafood. Also known as Chief Tony’s. M$$ McDonald Restaurante Juárez 75; 323 285 0432. No relation to Ronald’s place, this friendly restaurant just off the main plaza since 1952 serves excellent, good

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’ll often find a crowd of expats here to enjoy them. M$$ Drinking and nightlife See map page 379 Mike’s Place Juárez 75 (above McDonald); http://placejuarez.business.site. Quiet drinking midweek but livens up on Fri and Sat with dancing, live music and anything from Latin to classic rock

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Gran Puerto (for the Isla Mujeres ferry) from the bus station. They’re marked “Pto Juárez” or “Punta Sam” and stop in front of the McDonald’s on Tulum. By taxi Taxis are plentiful and can be hailed almost anywhere. Fares are based on a zone system, and you should agree

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, buses (“R-1 – Pto Juárez”) that go this far north are not common; also look for combis (marked “Juárez”), which stop in front of the McDonald’s on Tulum, across from the bus station. Taxis run from the bus station to the zona hotelera. By car ferry There’s also a

Frommer's California 2009

by Matthew Poole, Harry Basch, Mark Hiss and Erika Lenkert · 2 Jan 2009

, but on w eekends, it’s a straight-up people zoo where every age and persuasion coexist mor e peacefully than the cast in a McDonald’s commercial. Expect to boogie down shoulder-to-shoulder to 1980s hits and leave with a contagious feel-good vibe. Pier 23, at the Embarcadero

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ks b y California ar tists fr om B ierstadt to D iebenkorn; collections of historic ar tifacts, from Pomo Indian basketry to Country Joe McDonald’s guitar; and r e-creations of California habitats fr om the coast to the S ierra Mountains. The museum holds major sho ws of

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om the property’s mineral springs. Carports are located behind each building. The inn also has a steakhouse, r etro-flavored coffee shop , and the Cattleman ’s Lounge, a local hot spot featuring live entertainment on weekends. Tip: The inn’s new two-room suites with pullout sofas are ideal for families. 1103

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orchards and open fields, the scenery punctuated only by ambling livestock or a rustic wood fence. At Benson Avenue in Upland, a classic 1950s-style McDonald’s stands on the southeast corner, its golden arches flanking a low, white, walk-up counter with outdoor stools. The fast-food chain has its

…

roots in this region: Richard and Maurice McDonald opened their first burger joint in San Bernardino in 1939. The brothers expanded their business, Tips A Retro Pit Stop 16 G E T YO

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), 398 Lux Art Institute (Encinitas), 762 Lyons Trail, 304 Lyon Street Steps (San Francisco), 135 McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park, 297 McClendon Ford, 255 McDonald’s, classic 1950s-style (Upland), 656–657 MacKerricher State Park, 243 McLaren Lodge and Park Headquarters (San Francisco), 124 McLaren Memorial Rhododendron Dell (San Francisco

Frommer's Israel

by Robert Ullian · 31 Mar 1998

a lavish Middle Eastern–style feast. It includes the Arabic falafel, still the stuff of fast-food life in Israel despite the recent arrival of McDonald’s, Burger King, and Pizza Hut; it moves on to scrumptious shwarma, or seasoned meat cooked on a spit, and served with your choice of

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planned for the previously low-rise center of West Jerusalem, and the city has already seen the arrival of such worldly establishments as Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, and Toys “R” Us. At what point will Jerusalem begin to seem like anywhere else? The city is at a crossroads politically and socially

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hours, and provide a good variety of choices. In downtown West Jerusalem: Adom, Barood, the restaurant at the King David Street YMCA, Sakura, Spaghettim, Zuni, McDonald’s, and Arcadia. In South Jerusalem: Levan at the Cinémathèque. In East Jerusalem: American Colony Hotel, Blue Dolphin, Askadinya, Pasha, and Kan Zeman at the

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; lentil with wine; spicy Yemenite tomato, onion, and cheese; and tomato with anise. Great shakshuka, a spicy egg-and-tomato dish, rounds out the hot menu. There’s coffee, tea, pies, wine, and beer by the half-liter, and lots of leisurely conversation. There’s also a rear patio, and live jazz Monday

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/08 12:28 PM Page 246 C H A P T E R 7 . T E L AV I V wide range of neighboring restaurants (McDonald’s; the great Yotvata; and Mike’s Place) where you can breakfast or brunch better and much cheaper than in the hotel. 79 Ha-Yarkon

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crescendo is reached on Saturday nights after the cinemas let out. Pick out a seat at one of the sidewalk cafes and order a coffee, or, if it’s hot, cool off with a coffee ice-cream soda (one of the most popular Israeli drinks) or tasty apple cider. To find out what