McDonald's once again sued after customer burns herself on hot coffee | CNN Business
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McDonald’s is being sued over a hot coffee spill, again.

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.

    • Broken_Monitor@lemmy.worldEnglish
      751·
      2 years ago

      Beat me to it. I remember as a teenager hearing adults laugh about this, “how could you not know coffee is hot?? Hahaha”. Holy shit the McDonalds PR really fucked that lady over. It wasn’t until at least a decade later that I learned the reality of the situation and how horrific her burns were.

      Fuck McDonalds.

      • chaogomu@kbin.social
        481·
        2 years ago

        Jay Leno did the most to further that hit job. He spent months spreading lies, all while McDonald’s became a major sponsor of his show.

        • kameecoding@lemmy.world
          25·
          2 years ago

          it also made it onto Seinfeld, it was also pushed by Republicans and their mouthpieces (Fox) that the country ia going to hell everyone can sue for anything bla bla bla, typical moral panic stuff.

          that shit was so widespread I heard about the anyone can sue rhetoric about the USA as a kid, and I am from Slovakia

    • NevermindNoMind@lemmy.world
      611·
      2 years ago

      Just want to add that this wasn’t just McDonald’s spinning it for their own purposes, it was part of a larger effort of tort reform - spreading the conception that people are suing for everything, even hot coffee hur dur, so that the public would support things like caps on pain and suffering damages and punitive damages. Corporations wanted more leeway to maximize profits(the reason McDonald’s coffee was so hot was because they could get more coffee out of the beans that way), even if it hurt people, and the public jumped right on board. This was part of the same strategy as denigrating plaintiffs attorneys as “ambulance chasers” and the like. It got to the point that even when people were harmed, they still wouldn’t sue because they didn’t want to be lumped in with “those entitled people suing over everything”. It became a point of pride to get fucked over by corporations and to do nothing about it. Really disgusting how easily the public was manipulated by all that.

    • Omega@lemmy.world
      6·
      2 years ago

      I just corrected someone about that last month who was using it as complaint about society. They had no idea about the details.

  • errer@lemmy.worldEnglish
    425·
    2 years ago

    McDonald’s should be considered guilty unless proven innocent given their track record. Nail em to the wall lady!

  • dethb0y@lemmy.world
    30·
    2 years ago

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

  • Madrigal@lemmy.worldEnglish
    211·
    2 years ago

    Wonder how long before the “Stella awards” start mysteriously showing up all over social media again.

  • Fosheze@lemmy.worldEnglish
    826·
    2 years ago

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

    What aid did she expect the minimum wage mc donalds workers to provide? They could have handed her napkins and called an ambulance but I’m pretty sure providing first aid is well outside their job description and training. Even then, first aid for burns would just be removing any clothing covering the burned area (that isn’t stuck to the wound) and then running cold water over the area. Then, depending on the extent and degree of the burns, you get them to a hospital. I’m not sure if this is another 3rd degree burns “fused labia” situation, but if it is then the article really glossed over that fact.

      • Fosheze@lemmy.worldEnglish
        82·
        2 years ago

        And do what? That’s what I’m asking. What was she expecting them to do that they didn’t do? What actual action did she expect them to take that they didn’t take? What is “acting like a human” in this situation?

        You’re implying that these people were being selfish assholes but I can’t think of anything they could have done. Yes this lady is now covered in hot coffee. The employees can’t just magic that coffee off of her, even though I’m sure they wished they could have in that moment. They have napkins available. That’s the only means they had available to remove the coffee short of stripping an old woman in a mcdonalds which would have opened them up to all sorts of other problems. As I said in my origional post, they could have given her napkins and called an ambulance. You can’t just undo a coffee spill and there is very little you can do for large burns in the field.

          • Fosheze@lemmy.worldEnglish
            44·
            2 years ago

            See and now you’ve already screwed up. You never put ice on a burn. Burns damage nerves and by putting ice on it you are very likely to just cause frost bite as well. That’s why I said cold water in my origional comment. Aditionally ice machines are always full of nasty bacterial growth that you’ve now just smeared into a fresh wound.

            Thats why I said first aid was likely outside of their training. Not to mention they are all likely specifically instructed to never allow people “in the back” and would risk being fired for doing so.

      • wokehobbit@lemmy.world
        12·
        2 years ago

        For 15 bucks an hour it sure as fuck is too much to ask. Fuck your stupid ass for not expecting coffee to be hot.

            • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
              21·
              2 years ago

              Well why not just kick the woman a few times while she’s writhing in pain? No reason to be moral or humanitarian because you’re not being paid enough to care about other people. That takes being paid more, not having a basic moral code.

    • shalafi@lemmy.world
      41·
      2 years ago

      Yep. I doubt her fucking labia were fused together. The first case was a real issue and McD was clearly in the wrong. This one? McDonalds + hot coffee spill != automatic money.