McDonald's and a franchise owner were found guilty of a Happy Meal hot chicken McNugget falling on a girl's leg and causing second-degree burns, a South Florida jury ruled in a case reminiscent of the famous hot coffee lawsuit of the nineties.
A second jury will determine how much McDonald's USA and its franchise owner, Upchurch Foods, will have to pay the girl and her mother, the South Florida SunSentinel reported.
Thursday's decision was divided, as jurors found the franchisee responsible for negligence and failing to warn customers about the risk of hot food, and that McDonald's USA was responsible for failing to provide instructions for safe food handling. McDonald's USA was not found guilty of negligence and the jury dismissed the argument that the product was defective.
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"Our condolences to this family for what happened in this unfortunate incident, as we consider the safety of customers one of our highest priorities," McDonald's owner-operator Brent Upchurch said in a statement. "We are deeply disappointed with today's verdict because the facts show that our restaurant in Tamarac, Florida, did follow those protocols when cooking and serving this Happy Meal."
Philana Holmes and her daughter Olivia Caraballo, 7, hear the last witness in their case at Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Wednesday, May 10, 2023.Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel/TNS via Getty Images
Jurors heard two days of testimony and arguments about the 2019 episode that left the 4-year-old with her upper thigh burned.
Philana Holmes testified that she bought Happy Meals for her son and then-4-year-old daughter at a drive-thru window at a McDonald's in Tamarac, near Fort Lauderdale, the SunSentinel reported, and gave them to her children, who were in the back seat.
When she started the car to leave, her daughter started screaming. The mother stated that she didn't know what was wrong with her until she stopped to help the girl, Olivia Caraballo, now 7, according to the newspaper. He then saw the burn on the girl's leg and took photos on his iPhone, which included audio recordings of the girl's screams.
The sound of the girl's screams was played in court. The girl, who is autistic, did not testify, the newspaper reported.
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McDonald's lawyers said the food had to be hot to avoid salmonella poisoning, and that the nuggets were not meant to be pressed between the seat belt and human flesh for more than two minutes.
The girl's parents filed a lawsuit, alleging that McDonald's and the franchise owner failed to properly train employees, failed to warn customers of the "dangerous" temperature of the food and for cooking food to a much higher temperature than necessary.
Although both sides agreed that the nugget caused the burns, the family's lawyers argued that the temperature was above 200 degrees (93 Celsius), while the defense said it was not higher than 160 degrees (71 Celsius).
Background to the case
The case is likely reminiscent of the McDonald's café lawsuit of the '90s, which became something of an urban legend about seemingly frivolous lawsuits, though a jury and judge deemed they were not.
A New Mexico jury awarded 81-year-old Stella Liebeck $2.7 million in punitive damages after hot McDonald's coffee spilled on her in 1992, burning her legs, groin and buttocks, when she tried to hold the cup with her legs while removing the lid to add cream outside a drive-thrus.
He suffered third-degree burns and spent more than a week in the hospital.
He had initially asked McDonald's for $20,000 to cover hospital expenses, but the company went to trial. A judge later reduced the award from $2.7 million to $480,000, which he deemed appropriate for McDonald's "deliberate, gratuitous, reckless" and "insensitive" behavior.
With information from AP NEWS via NBC News
