2023-05-12 19:13:03
An American woman succeeded in settling a legal battle with the fast food chain “McDonald’s”, following her daughter suffered second-degree burns due to a hot piece of chicken.
Incident details
- Villana Holmes told the court that in 2019, she purchased Happy Meals for her son and daughter from her car through the ordering aisle at McDonald’s in Tamarack, Florida, and then delivered the food to her two children, who were in the back seat..
- After the car moved away, her autistic daughter started screaming, and as soon as the mother stopped the car, she saw the burns on the girl’s thigh and took pictures documenting what happened on her phone..
- Holmes told the jury that her 4-year-old daughter suffered burns to her upper thigh following a McNugget fell on her and got stuck between her thigh and the seatbelt for two minutes..
What happened in the courtroom?
Holmes alleged that the fast-food giant “failed to warn customers of the dangerous food temperature.” However, McDonald’s lawyers argued that “chicken nuggets must be hot to avoid salmonella risks.”
They also said that “McNuggets were not made in a way that allowed them to get stuck (safely) between a seat belt and human flesh for more than two minutes.”
Both sides agreed that the chicken nugget caused the burns, but lawyers for the family asserted that the temperature was higher than 93 degrees Celsius (200 Fahrenheit) while lawyers for McDonald’s said it was 71 degrees Celsius (160 Fahrenheit).
It is noteworthy that the case showed similarities with the famous “McDonald’s” hot coffee case in 1992, when a New Mexico woman sued the company following suffering burns when coffee was spilled on her.
Stella Liebeck (then 81 years old) was initially awarded $2.7 million in damages, but it was later reduced to $480,000..
A Briton also sued McDonald’s in 1995 because of the apple pie he bought and suffered burns when some of its contents spilled on his arm, and he won £750 in compensation.
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