McDonald's and a franchise holder has been found to be liable after a child suffered second-degree burns when a hot Chicken McNugget fell on their leg.
Philana Holmes had testified that she had bought Happy Meals for her son and her then-four-year-old daughter at a drive-thru in Tamarac, near Fort Lauderdale in 2019.
The SunSentinel reports that Holmes handed the meals to her children, who were in the back seat of the car before driving away from the window.
Her daughter, Olivia Caraballo, who is now seven years old and has autism, soon began screaming and Holmes pulled over to help her, not knowing what was causing her distress.
She saw that her daughter's leg had been burned and took photos on her iPhone, before also recording audio clips of her screaming, which were played in court.
Lawyers for McDonald's had told the court that the food needed to be served hot to prevent salmonella poisoning and argued that the nuggets were not meant to be pressed between a seat belt and human flesh for more than two minutes.
While both sides acknowledged that it was the nugget that caused the burns to the girl's leg, the family's lawyers claimed the food item was over 200 degrees while the defense claimed it was no hotter than 160 degrees.
The girl's parents had chosen to sue by claiming that the franchise owner had failed to warn customers about the "dangerous" temperature of the food and alleged that they had failed to adequately train their employees and cooked their food to a much higher temperature than needed.
The court's decision was split, with the jury finding the franchise holder liable for negligence and failure to warn customers about the risk of hot food. McDonald’s USA was also found liable for failing to provide instructions for safe handling of the food, but the jury dismissed claims the product was defective and McDonald's USA was not found to be negligent.
Another jury is set to decide how much McDonald's USA and the franchise owner, Upchurch Foods, will have to pay the child and her mother.
Franchise owner Brent Upchurch said in a statement: "Our sympathies go out to this family for what occurred in this unfortunate incident, as we hold customer safety as one of our highest priorities. We are deeply disappointed with today’s verdict because the facts show that our restaurant in Tamarac, Florida did indeed follow those protocols when cooking and serving this Happy Meal."
It's not the first time McDonald's has been sued for the temperature of their food, as it was famously the subject of a lawsuit in the 1990s when a woman was scalded by a hot coffee.
Stella Liebeck, 81, was awarded $2.7 million in punitive damages in 1992 by a New Mexico jury after she suffered burns on her legs, groin, and buttocks.
She had been trying to hold the cup with her legs after leaving the drive-thru while removing the lid to add cream to her coffee, when the scalding liquid spilled onto her lap, causing third-degree burns and leading her to spend over a week in the hospital.
Liebeck had initially asked for $20,000 compensation to cover her hospital expenses, but McDonald's chose to go to trial. She was initially awarded $2.7 million, but the sum was later reduced by a judge to $480,000, which he deemed appropriate for her injuries.
