(RepublicanPress.org) – Fast food chains have a long-running history of falling on the wrong side of product liability lawsuits. Who can forget the time a McDonald’s franchisee had to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to a 79-year-old woman after she spilled a scalding hot cup of coffee on herself in the 1990s? Lightning struck again earlier this year, resulting in another lawsuit against Mickey Ds. Recent reports indicate that a woman was awarded a huge settlement after filing a similar legal action against Dunkin’. Here’s what we know.
On October 24, media outlets reported that Benjamin Welch, an attorney with the prestigious personal injury law firm Morgan & Morgan, issued a brief press release announcing an unnamed client was recently awarded a three million dollar settlement with Golden Donuts, LLC, the franchisee of a Dunkin’ located in Sugar Hill, Georgia.
The 70-year-old woman reportedly suffered second and third-degree burns to her abdomen, groin area, and thighs after the lid came off a cup of coffee she purchased in the Sugar Hill Dunkin’ in February 2021. Welch’s statement explained that the woman had to relearn how to walk again and continues struggling with routine daily activities.
Georgia woman wins $3M settlement for hot coffee spill at Dunkin' in 2021 https://t.co/q5f51fEDvO
— FOX Business (@FoxBusiness) October 25, 2023
According to Welch, his client spent several weeks at the Grady medical facility’s Walter L. Ingram Burn Center, located in Atlanta’s downtown district. He also reported that her medical bills exceeded $200,000, and his client was forced to “entirely alter [how] she lives.” He noted that she must apply ointments and creams to the burns several times daily. Additionally, she can’t go into direct sunlight and experiences pain when walking.
Fox Business reported that Morgan & Morgan founder John Morgan said he hoped restaurants would start prioritizing customer safety due to this multi-million dollar settlement. He noted that there’s nothing complicated about correcting the situation. “Train your employees properly” and prioritize keeping customers safe, he said.
However, Morgan noted that one of the most famous consumer safety lawsuits involved “scalding coffee,” a reference to the 1995 McDonald’s settlement. Yet, restaurants “still have failed to learn their lesson,” he concluded.
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