Why does hot coffee safety still matter after the Dunkin case?

A woman in her seventies in Atlanta suffered second- and third-degree burns in 2021 when a loose lid came off a cup handed to her at a Dunkin' Donuts drive-thru, spilling coffee onto her abdomen, groin and thighs. The franchise operator, Golden Donuts, LLC, agreed to a $3 million settlement after she underwent skin graft surgery.

Her medical bills reached $200,000, and her lawyer argued the accident would not have happened if the clerk had secured the lid. The case echoes the McDonald's hot coffee lawsuit of the 1990s and puts beverage temperature, cup lid safety and staff training back in view. For coffee lovers, flavor matters, but so does the handling behind each hot cup.

A burn accident caused by a cup of hot coffee has once again ended with a massive payout. In 2021, a woman in her seventies in Atlanta, USA, suffered second- and third-degree burns when the lid came off as she collected coffee at a Dunkin' Donuts drive-thru, and she was ultimately awarded $3 million. This case is strikingly similar to the McDonald's hot coffee burn case that caused a sensation in the 1990s, and it has brought the issues of hot beverage temperature, cup lid safety and employee training back into the public eye. As coffee lovers, we care about flavor, but we should not overlook the safety details behind every cup of hot coffee. Front Street Coffee has always advocated that professional production is not only about taste, but also about being responsible to customers.

▲

Click to follow | Daily specialty coffee culture magazine Coffee Workshop

According to a New York Post report on October 25, a woman in her seventies in Atlanta, USA, was severely burned by spilled hot coffee at a doughnut shop in 2021, and recently reached a final settlement with the restaurant, receiving $3 million.

The woman's lawyer revealed that the accident occurred at the Dunkin' Donuts store on Nelson Brogdon Boulevard in Sugar Hill. At the time, she drove to the restaurant's drive-thru to buy coffee. When the employee handed out the hot drink, they failed to notice that the cup lid had already come loose, causing the coffee to spill onto her abdomen, groin and thighs, resulting in second- and third-degree burns. The injured woman subsequently underwent skin graft surgery, and her medical expenses totaled $200,000.

During the trial, the lawyer stated: "The plaintiff's burns were very severe. During the weeks she was hospitalized in the burn unit at Grady Health Center, she had to apply ointment to the wounds multiple times a day, and even walking normally caused severe pain. If the clerk had secured the cup lid at the time, this accident would not have happened at all."

In response to this allegation, Golden Donuts, LLC, the Dunkin' store's franchise operator, agreed to pay a $3 million settlement to compensate for the injuries the woman suffered and the negative impact on her life.

Speaking about the negligence of the Dunkin' store employees, the plaintiff's lawyer further said: "One of the most famous lawsuits in American history is the case of severe burns caused by hot coffee. Yet this restaurant still has not learned its lesson and has not put customer safety first. We hope that through the settlement we can send a message to all restaurants and franchisees: properly training employees and putting customer safety first is not complicated."

The "severe hot coffee burn case" mentioned here is precisely the McDonald's coffee burn case that attracted widespread attention in the 1990s.

In 1992, a 79-year-old woman in the United States suffered third-degree severe burns to her thighs, buttocks and other areas when the lid came off and the coffee tipped over while she was drinking hot coffee at McDonald's.

After two years of treatment, she asked McDonald's to cover all her medical expenses, namely $20,000, but McDonald's was willing to pay only $800 as consolation compensation and repeatedly refused to settle out of court. Left with no choice, the woman had to take McDonald's to court.

After the case entered the trial stage, the jury found that the coffee product had a factual quality defect, and that McDonald's "reckless" conduct (failing to warn customers in advance that the coffee was very hot) caused the plaintiff's personal injury and property loss, and unanimously ruled that McDonald's should pay the woman $286. In the end, the judge set the compensation amount at $640,000, and McDonald's subsequently reached an out-of-court settlement with the woman, with the actual payout amount kept confidential.

After this case, McDonald's and many other coffee shops added warning labels to their cups to remind customers to be careful of burns. Well-known restaurant brands including Burger King and Starbucks also correspondingly lowered the temperature of their hot beverages and improved hot drink packaging. The now-common "Caution! Hot Contents" label was born at that time.

Such incidents remind us once again that, as workers in the service industry, we should always maintain a high level of vigilance and a sense of responsibility.

Disclaimer: Some images in this article are from the internet. For some content on the website, such as images, we will respect the original author's copyright and indicate the source. However, due to the large volume, a few images and texts may not have been credited in time. Please forgive us. If the original author has any dispute, they may contact the website for handling. Once verified, we will correct it immediately. Compiled and edited by "Coffee Workshop." Please indicate the source when reposting. If there is infringement, please inform us for deletion. Thank you~!

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.