HOT COFFEE SCREENING & MOVIE TALK SPONSORED BY FRIEDMAN LAW OFFICES Sunday, December 18 - 1:00 p.m.
Friedman Law Offices is sponsoring a special admission free screening of director Susan Saladoff’s HOT COFFEE on Sunday, December 18 at 1 p.m. The screening will be followed by a Q&A and panel discussion featuring Susan Saladoff via Skype, along with Mark A. Christensen, John F. Carroll, Sen. Steve Lathrop, Robert B. Evnen, and Professor Beth Burkstrand-Reid. The Movie Talk series is sponsored by the Friends of The Ross.
“Oregon lawyer and first-time filmmaker Susan Saladoff made a stunning debut with the lively, lucid HOT COFFEE, about the spin behind such notions as tort reform, frivolous lawsuits and jackpot justice. With its energetic pacing, bold visuals and the kind of narrative that sends audiences out of the theater thinking in a brand-new way about something they thought they understood, Hot Coffee deserves the kind of release enjoyed by An Inconvenient Truth and Food, Inc.” - Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
HOT COFFEE Seinfeld mocked it. Letterman ranked it in his top ten list. And more than fifteen years later, its infamy continues. Everyone knows the McDonald’s coffee case. It has been routinely cited as an example of how citizens have taken advantage of America’s legal system, but is that a fair rendition of the facts? HOT COFFEE reveals what really happened to Stella Liebeck, the Albuquerque woman who spilled coffee on herself and sued McDonald’s, while exploring how and why the case garnered so much media attention, who funded the effort and to what end. After seeing this film, you will decide who really profited from spilling hot coffee. - Official Site
SUSAN SALADOFF Susan Saladoff (Producer, Director) spent twenty-five years practicing law in the civil justice system, representing injured victims of individual and corporate negligence. She stopped practicing law in 2009 to make the documentary, HOT COFFEE, her first feature-length film. She began her career as a public interest lawyer with the law firm of Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, now known as Public Justice, an organization that, for the last 25 years, has been at the forefront of keeping Americas courthouse doors open to all. Susan was recognized by her peers as an Oregon Super Lawyer for five consecutive years from 2006 to 2010. She is a graduate of Cornell University and George Washington University Law School, and has frequently lectured at the state and national levels on the importance of the civil justice system.
MARK A. CHRISTENSEN Mark A. Christensen is a partner with the law firm of Cline Williams Wright Johnson & Oldfather, L.L.P. He received his J.D., with distinction, from the University of Nebraska in 1984 and graduated from Doane College, summa cum laude, in 1981. Mark focuses his general civil trial practice on medical malpractice defense, legal malpractice defense, personal injury cases and commercial litigation. He is active in the firm’s Alternative Dispute Resolution practice group and has successfully served as a mediator in personal injury, commercial litigation and employment cases in Lincoln, Omaha and throughout Nebraska. Mark is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He is an Associate of the American Board of Trial Advocates, a Fellow of the Nebraska State Bar Foundation, and Past President of the Nebraska Association of Defense Counsel.
JOHN F. CARROLL John F. Carroll is a Licensed Registered Nurse and Attorney who has worked in the health care industry for nearly 20 years, starting as a medic in the United States Air Force in 1987. He graduated from Creighton University School of Law in 2005 and Excelsior College of Nursing in 2001. Carroll graduated Summa Cum Laude from Bellevue University in 2000 with a degree in Criminal Justice. Carroll has worked exclusively in the area of Medical Negligence Law since graduating from Creighton Law in 2005, first as a Legal Nurse Consultant and then as an attorney at Garland Law, PC. Carroll is now the President of Watson & Carroll, PC, LLO, a Medical Negligence Law Firm representing Plaintiffs only. Carroll has been a member of the Omaha, Nebraska State and American Bar Associations since 2008. He is also a member of the American Association of Justice, the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys, and the Million Dollar Advocates Forum.
SEN. STEVE LATHROP Steven M. Lathrop was born and raised in Omaha, and graduated from Roncalli High School. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration in 1979 and a Juris Doctorate from Creighton University in 1981. He was admitted to the Nebraska State and Federal Courts in 1981. His practice is limited to the areas of Personal Injury, Medical Malpractice, Product Liability and Workers’ Compensation. Mr. Lathrop is a member of the Nebraska State Bar Association, the Omaha Bar Association and the American Association for Justice. He has been a board member of the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys since 1988 and was President of that organization in 2000. He also served as Chair of the Nebraska Legislature Committee for the 1988 term. Mr. Lathrop is currently serving as a state senator for the Omaha-based 12th Legislative District, which includes the Ralston and Millard communities.
ROBERT B. EVNEN Robert Evnen joined Woods & Aitken in 1987, and provides counseling and representation on the full range of labor and employment matters of concern to employers, including: employment discrimination; employment contracts; non-competition and trade secret agreements; employment torts; wage/hour regulations; Family and Medical Leave Act issues; Americans with Disabilities Act issues; Occupational Safety and Health Act (“OSHA”) citations; employee benefits; and union/management issues regarding union organizing, contract negotiation and contract administration. Robert actively participates in bar association activities related to employment law. He served as Chair of the Nebraska State Bar Section on Labor Relations and Employment Law. He was a member of the board of Nebraska Continuing Legal Education, where he chaired and contributed to several labor law seminars. His comprehensive outline titled “Developments in the Law of Employment at Will” has been published in updated form six times since its initial publication by the bar in 1987.
PROFESSOR BETH BURKSTRAND-REID Professor Burkstrand-Reid joined the University of Nebraska College of Law faculty in 2010. She teaches Torts, Family Law and Sex-Based Discrimination. Professor Burkstrand-Reid has a diverse practice background. She is a former associate with the Washington, D.C. office of Crowell & Moring LLP, where she had a broad-based corporate litigation and counseling practice that focused on consumer product safety matters. Her product liability work included product defect investigations and recall-related counseling. Her practice also included First Amendment and terrorism-related issues, as well as significant pro bono family law and reproductive health law matters. Her research at the University of Nebraska College of Law focuses on Family Law, specifically the relationship between law and pregnancy, as well as the changing roles of fathers in the American family. Professor Burkstrand-Reid was formerly a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois College of Law and an adjunct faculty member at the American University Washington College of Law in Washington, D.C. She received her J.D., summa cum laude, from American University and her B.A. in political science from Emory University. Upon graduation from law school, Professor Burkstrand-Reid was a pro se law clerk for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria Division. Prior to her legal career, Professor Burkstrand-Reid was a journalist. Her writing has appeared in several newspapers, including The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.
