McDonald's found liable for scalding Chicken McNugget that burned girl, rules jury

On Thursday, a court jury in South Florida ruled that McDonald's and its franchise holder were responsible for the second-degree burns that a little girl suffered after a flaming-hotChicken McNugget fell on her thigh in 2019.

The jury decision was split as it found thefranchise holder liable for negligence and failure to warn customers about the risk of hot food and McDonald's USA for providing proper instructions regarding the safe handling of the food. However,McDonald's USA was not found negligent and the jury dismissed the argument that the company's product was defective.

A second jury will now sit to determine how much McDonald's USA and the franchise owner owe to the child and her mother, according to The Associated Press.

“Our sympathies go out to this family for what occurred in this unfortunate incident, as we hold customer safety as 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 indeed follow those protocols when cooking and serving this Happy Meal.”

The 2019 incident

The incident transpired in August 2019 whenPhilana Holmes took her son and daughter to aTamarac McDonald’s and bought the Happy Meals. However, she received no warning that the food might be scalding. After receiving the food from the drive-thru window, she passed it along to her daughter and son in the back seat and drove away.

Her daughter, identified in court as Olivia Caraballo, an autistic child who was four years old at the time, did not testify during the trial. However, according toHolmes' version, she did not realise at first why her daughter was screaming in the back. Upon pulling up into a nearby parking lot to helpthe child, she noticed the burn andtook photos on her iPhone, which included audio clips of the child’s screams.

Both the photo and the audio were presented during the trial. The attorneys representing the fast-food giant, however, argued that food had to be hot to avoidsalmonella poisoning. They added thatnuggets were not meant to be pressed between a seat belt and human flesh for more than two minutes.

Though both sides agreed that the nugget was the cause of the burns, the family's lawyers argued that the temperature was above 93 Celsius while McDonald's said it was no more than 71 Celsius.

The case is reminiscent of the 1992Stella Liebeck case when she received $2.7 million in punitive damages after a McDonald's hot coffee spilled into her lap - burning her legs, groin and buttocks.

(With inputs from agencies)

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