Lawsuit Claims McDonald's Filled Toddler's Cup With Hot, Spillable Coffee

A woman in the Chicago area is suing McDonald’s over hot coffee — something they’re not unfamiliar with — claiming that her four-year old granddaughter was burned after an employee gave her a refill of the liquid that is only supposed to be served to adults.

According to the lawsuit, the woman had asked her granddaughter to throw away her empty coffee cup, but the child misunderstood and brought the cup to the counter for a refill. According to the Chicago Tribune, the lawsuit alleges an employee told her to come back when a new pot of coffee was done.

The little girl was set on helping her grandma, it seems, as she then apparently returned to the counter where the employee is said to have filled it up with the freshly brewed, very hot coffee, without securing a lid and without a protective sleeve.

According to the lawsuit, “a lot of coffee spilled out of the cup” onto the girl’s chest, causing second-degree burns and permanent scarring. The grandmother says she was also burned when she tried to help her granddaughter.

In the lawsuit, the woman says McDonald’s violated its own policy of not serving coffee to minors and didn’t warn the girl about how hot the liquid was.

“The safety of our customers and the food we serve have always been top priorities,” a McDonald’s USA spokeswoman said in a statement. “While these are unfortunate accidents, customers must handle hot beverages with care, as indicated on all of our coffee cups.”

Almost 16 years after the famous case where McD’s was sued by a customer for failing to warn her that the coffee she bought was hot, a woman sued the company for overly hot hot chocolate.So by this point the deja vu must be overwhelming.

McDonald’s faces hot coffee litigation again [Chicago Tribune]

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