A couple of weeks ago I wrote about so-called "tort reform" and how it operates to protect corporations at the expense of individuals. This anti-consumer movement began following the now-famous (or infamous) McDonald’s coffee case. In the fifteen years since that time, corporations and insurance companies have been spending vast sums of money to convince the public that "frivolous lawsuits" are ruining the country.
A powerful new documentary entitled Hot Coffee will try to set the record straight about how huge companies are rewriting our laws to limit access to justice. Hot Coffee uses several real-life cases to show the real effects of tort reform legislation: shaming people away from using the civil justice system and making it nearly impossible to obtain fair and adequate compensation for their injuries.
Hot Coffee premieres on HBO this Monday, June 27, at 9 p.m. Eastern and Pacific (8 p.m. Central) time.
