Of course this doesn’t speak to the rise of lawsuits as an industry in the 70’s and 80’s. I’m not sure of the reasons for that, but as the author notes it had a huge upswing at that time.
> "Since Liebeck, McDonald's has not reduced the service temperature of its coffee. McDonald's current policy is to serve coffee at 176–194 °F (80–90 °C),[37] relying on more sternly worded warnings on cups made of rigid foam to avoid future liability, though it continues to face lawsuits over hot coffee.[37][38] The Specialty Coffee Association of America supports improved packaging methods rather than lowering the temperature at which coffee is served. The association has successfully aided the defense of subsequent coffee burn cases.[38] Similarly, as of 2004, Starbucks sells coffee at 175–185 °F (79–85 °C), and the executive director of the Specialty Coffee Association of America reported that the standard serving temperature is 160–185 °F (71–85 °C)."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald%27s_Rest...
I'm glad Stella got her bills paid, but no, that's not how the system is working. Successful hot coffee lawsuits are extremely rare. I'm aware of only a couple successful payouts in case alleging only excessive temperature. The only two "hot-coffee" lawsuits I know of in the past couple of years both involve defective lids and insufficient warnings.