McDonald’s is being sued over a hot coffee spill, again.

This time, a San Francisco location is being accused of serving a “scalding” cup of coffee with an improperly attached lid, which allegedly resulted in the coffee pouring out on plaintiff Mable Childress’ body and causing “severe burns” after she tried drinking it.

The lawsuit, filed last week, alleged that the elderly woman is suffering from “physical pains, emotional distress and other damages.” The restaurant’s negligence was a “substantial factor” for her injuries, it alleged.

Childress also said in the lawsuit that the restaurant employees “refused” to help her, a point that the McDonald’s denied.

  • dethb0y@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    I’m honestly surprised this doesn’t happen more often than it does, considering how much coffee McD’s sells.

    • thepianistfroggollum@lemmynsfw.com
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      10 months ago

      This person likely doesn’t have a case. The reason McD lost the first coffee case was because at the time they were offering free coffee refills, so they cranked up the temperature so people wouldn’t have time to sit and drink multiple cups.

      Dozens of people had already been injured by this practice by the point the famous injury happened, and the courts had already warned McD to stop.

    • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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      10 months ago

      They’re supposed to serve it at a safe temperature, and they usually do.

      tbh I’m not sure how they managed to overclock their coffee maker. Did they just heat it up on the stove?

      • Sirsnuffles@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        I don’t think I understand how it can be hotter than 100 celcius.

        I’m not defending McDonald’s here, they can rot.

        Like, coffee is mostly water, and water boils at atmospheric pressure at 100c. Milk boils slightly more than 100. I guess the lid would pressurise the steam a little? Maybe the coffee grinds hold the heat far more than the water? I wouldn’t have thought it would be diluted too much to make a difference.

        I guess this is a stupid question, because it happened. But how can boiling water cause third degree burns in the quantity of 500ml? I thought it’d have to be much more than that and very prolonged?

        • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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          10 months ago

          It’s prolonged because the spill happened on clothing, so the boiling water is held on to the skin instead of just running off.