employment; workers' compensation law prohibited employees from suing their employer; Nix, who actually performed the acts, was not a McDonald's employee; and the victim did not remove herself from the situation, contrary to common sense. The civil trial began September 10, 2007, and ended on October 5, 2007, when a jury awarded Ogborn $5 million in punitive damages and $1.1 million in compensatory damages and expenses. Summers was awarded $1 million in punitive damages and $100,000 in compensatory damages. The jury decided that McDonald's and the unnamed caller were each 50% at fault for the abuse to which the victim was subjected. McDonald's and their attorneys were sanctioned for withholding evidence pertinent to the outcome of the trial. In November 2008, McDonald's also was ordered to pay $2.4 million in legal fees to plaintiffs' lawyers. On November 20, 2009, the Kentucky Court of Appeals upheld the jury's verdict but reduced the punitive damages award to Summers to $400,000. McDonald's then appealed to the Kentucky Supreme Court. While its petition was pending in 2010, Ogborn settled with McDonald's for $1.1 million and abandoned her claim for punitive damages. After the court decisions, McDonald's revised its manager-training program to emphasize awareness of scam phone calls and protection of employees' rights. Fictional portrayals and documentaries The Mount Washington McDonald's scam has been the basis of the following: Episode 17 of season 9 of the television show Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (first aired April 29, 2008) featured Robin Williams as the caller. The character played by Williams identified himself as Detective Milgram, a reference to the famous Milgram experiment, which studied unreasonable obedience to authority. The 2012 feature film Compliance, directed by Craig Zobel. The 2016 play Mai Dang Lao, written by David Jacobi, which opened at the Victory Gardens Theatre in Chicago. Casefile True Crime Podcast featured the scam in an episode in September 2020, episode titled “Case 157: The Strip Search Scam”. My Favorite Murder featured the scam in an episode in August 2022, episode titled “341 - If You Were Godzilla...”. Don't Pick Up The Phone, a 2022 Netflix docuseries See also Milgram experiment (1961) Hofling hospital experiment (1966) Stanford prison experiment (1971) Suicide of Jacintha Saldanha (2012) Pranknet References Bibliography Cialdini, R. Influence: Science and Practice, Allyn & Bacon, 2000 Milgram, S. Obedience to Authority, Harper & Row, 1974 External links An ABC News report on the Mount