In 1992 Stella Liebeck ordered a cup of freshly brewed coffee at a
McDonald's drive-thru in Albuquerque, United States
.
Her grandson, who was driving, stopped in the parking lot so she could add the cream and sugar to the infusion without suspecting what would happen a second later.
Since there was no cup holder, Liebeck rested the cup between his knees, but spilled the coffee, suffered third-degree burns, sued McDonald's and was later
awarded almost $2.9 million in damages, about $5 million in cash. current.
The case became an example of consumer litigation against large corporations.
In fact,
decades after Liebeck settled his case, lawsuits over McDonald's hot coffee continue to reach courts around the world.
Stella Liebeck.
The woman who burned herself with coffee.
Hot drinks in consumer judgments
In Liebeck's case, some argued that she was responsible because she shouldn't have balanced the coffee in the first place.
Others saw the lawsuit as a justified David versus Goliath fight, that is,
a retiree against one of the best-known fast food chains in the world.
Ultimately the courts found that McDonald's bore most of the responsibility for serving coffee that was too hot.
A judge later reduced Liebeck's compensation.
In any case, the figure was millionaires.
The Burn of Stella Liebeck.
.
Liebeck required numerous skin grafts and surgery to treat burns that covered 16% of his body.
He died a decade after reaching a settlement.
Other lawsuits related to hot drinks have arisen over the years.
A woman from Surrey, British Columbia, also in the United States,
sued McDonald's after a coffee spill at a drive-thru in 2011.
Another
woman lost a lawsuit against Starbucks over a cup of hot tea in Sechelt, also in British Columbia, in 2017.
Additionally, a Winnipeg woman who suffered second- and third-degree burns after an extra-large cup of Tim Hortons green tea spilled onto her lap in 2013
called for a national regulation regulating the temperatures of hot beverages in the restaurants.
More lawsuits for hot drinks in the
United States
Another coffee-related lawsuit was filed against McDonald's last year
, worth $13 million.
Sherry Head, an Alabama woman, claimed workers served her a caramel macchiato that contained "harmful chemicals."
Hot coffee.
The woman explained in her lawsuit that they also refused to call 911 after her mouth and throat began to burn
, and they did not let anyone read the label on the bottle that contained the liquid that poisoned her.
According to the lawsuit, filed on September 19, 2022, an employee initially told Head that he could not order coffee
because they were cleaning the machine.
"Plaintiff drank a caustic chemical liquid and immediately began to experience a burning and numbing sensation in her mouth and throat," the lawsuit states.