Personally I'm not fussed about the details of the McD's coffee burn case. Maybe they were negligent in heating coffee to 20 degrees above industry standard, although that sounds highly unlikely to me. The spirit of mnko's point is well taken, at least by me. Even if the facts of the coffee case have been distorted, there are genuinely opportunistic lawsuits.
I also agree with Liney. The public have rolled over and accepted, or in some cases been responsible for, some of the stupidity that afflicts us now. I'm no huge fan of the Blair government but I sometimes hear them being blamed for all sorts of ludicrous things. Too easy - often, people have to look a little closer to home, but of course prefer not to.