Hot Coffee | Review

Tort reform. What does it mean? We’ve heard it in the news and in campaigns hundreds of times over the years, but do you understand its purpose? Former public interest lawyer and first time filmmaker Susan Saladoff uses the infamous Stella Liebeck vs. McDonald’s court case, in which Liebeck sued after being severely burned by a spilled cup of coffee from the fast food giant, as a jump off point to explain how tort reform is a means to strip US citizens of their ability to attain accountability from wrong doers in a court of law. Whether it be through damage caps, mandatory arbitration, or the straight up buy out of supreme court judges, legal practices have been manipulated to take judicial power away from impartial juries, and handed over to the corporate world with little hope of maintaining an honorable judicial system. Hot Coffee is a thoroughly researched documentary, unveiling the unlawful legal practices that are often overlooked by the general public until an individual is harmed, and unable to face their offender in a fair and just court of law.

Rendering accountability through the legal justice system has been getting much tougher due to support of tort reform, and various other law tinkerings. Saladoff’s exploration of these tinkerings plays out over the course of four main segments that highlight one particular individual who’s case lays bare the history of these reforms thus far, and the harm that has been incurred due to them. In the Liebeck case, her downplayed injuries, and over exaggerated award was subject to over the top public ridicule, which resulted in a massive PR campaign for tort reform, and numerous state mandated damage caps. The next case chronicles the story of the Gourley family, who’s son Colin was the victim of medical malpractice, which resulted in brain damage at birth. Because the new damage caps prevented his family from receiving a logical damage award that would pay for his lifelong medical and living costs incurred from the accident, his bills will be footed instead by tax payers. In the next case, back door corporate campaigns to unseat judges opposed to tort reform are detailed in the example of former justice Oliver Diaz, who successfully fought multiple charges brought against him to remove him from office, only to lose in the following election after unfairly having his name dragged through the mud. Finally, in the most extreme case, due to signing a mandatory arbitration clause upon being hired by KBR/Halliburton, Jamie Leigh Jones could not legally bring her co-workers who drugged, raped and beat her to either criminal, or civil court to hold them accountable for their crimes. Such ridiculous legal loop holes need patching up, and Saladoff aims to bring some much needed attention to them.

Hot Coffee isn’t afraid to talk politics, and it packs the facts to back up Saladoff’s obviously frustrated opinion. As an ex-lawyer herself, she possesses a thorough knowledge of the issues at hand, and breaks the often jargon heavy topic into easily digestible information tidbits thanks to a large cast of interviewees that range from the people involved directly in the cases discussed and a variety of professionals that studied them, to normal everyday people off the street that highlight just how unknowing the general public is about the topic. The docu’s extensive use of archived news footage that sets a timeline, and pinpoints key players in the often sketchy proceedings, is a magnificent display of investigative journalism, and brilliant editing skills.

Susan Saladoff’s HBO doc unveiling the unjust legal technicalities of tort reform, and mandatory arbitration is a brilliant debut that is sure to enlighten more than a handful of US citizens currently in the dark. Packing a comprehensive expertise on its opponent, and a well executed four case story structure, Hot Coffee is a standout political film guaranteed to inform, and enrage.

Rating 3.5 stars