AR> RW> Even if you soak a towel in boiling water and put it on
  > RW> your body you are not going to wind up $200,000 worth
  > RW> of medical cost.
AR>I don't know what the cost of her medical treatment was, but it was high.
Agreed... medical costs are high, but not THAT high.  After a heart
attack, two trips to the hospital, four catheterizations, angioplasty,
athrectomy, and open heart surgery with four arterial bypasses, my
total bill was just over $150,000.  I don't see how you could get
anywhere NEAR $200,000 for a coffee burn.
AR>And I have to disagree with you about the severity if the burn when
  >scalding fluid is kept on the skin my the fabric in the clothing.
  >In fact, that is what caused the burns to be as severe as they were.
It would hurt, granted, but the fabric would insulate the skin from the
most severe affects of the hot liquid which would cool tremendously
before it actually contacted the skin.  The air around the wet fabric
would accelerate the cooling of the liquid.  It certainly was not
kept at a "scalding" temperature in contact with the skin by the fabric.
The affect would be a "flash" at best.
I doubt that she would have even gone to the hospital if the exact
circumstances would have occurred at home with her own water. At most,
they would have put some salve on it and sent her home. No way would she
have been admitted.
AR> RW> Of course you ain't going to be want get frisky with
  > RW> the wife for a while :).
If I remember correctly, one of the points that her lawyers
dramatized to the jury was that her ability to have children "might" be
temporarily hampered by the incident.  At 83, I can see where that could
be a problem :).
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