Don't Spill "Hot Coffee"

"Hot Coffee"--a feature-length documentary about litigiousness in America, tort reform, mandatory arbitration, and the connection between buying state Supreme Courts and Karl Rove (gasp)--is part of HBO's annual documentary week, and it's pretty solid. Though it cold-opens with a comedic clip from "Seinfeld" where Kramer scalds himself sneaking a hot cup of coffee into a theater, it swiftly moves to the case of Stella Liebeck, the woman who famously sued McDonalds when she spilled hot coffee on her lap, causing third-degree burns. The case, a watershed moment in perceived "frivolous" lawsuits spurred the chamber of commerce and maybe in-pocket politicians to rail for tort reform and caps on punitive damages cases.

"Hot Coffee" takes you inside that world and sites exemplary cases of where the law adversely affected citizens, including former Halliburton Jamie Jones, brutally raped in Iraq in company barracks, who could only arbitrate privately with the company. The film's biggest weak-spot is asking people-on-the-street how much they know about legal issues and terms. Sure it shows the country isn't as knowledgeable as it could be regarding laws, but it's safe to say we could have inferred that. Otherwise, this is an extremely well crafted doc. Nothing worthy of a theatrical release, but un-indictable.