Aha, but the entire thing is disingenuous. He tries to make it seem absurd that anyone would serve coffe close to boiling temp. Often, when you make coffe you use boiling water.
You can argue the merits of the case itself, but the point is that it's held up as such a prominent example of a frivolous suit and of an overly litigious society. A lot of that had to do with misinformation - that she was driving, or that she had only minor injuries, etc. To me that was the crux of the Adam Ruins piece.