In this Jan. 22, 2010, file photo, a customer grabs lunch at a McDonalds drive-thru in Chicago. After a child suffered burns from a “hot” chicken nugget, McDonald’s has been found liable, according to a Florida jury.
Spencer Green, Associated Press
The hits keep coming for McDonald’s franchisees, and the latest one includes a Florida jury finding the store and company liable for a hot Chicken McNugget that burned a little girl.
After multiple franchisees were found employing more than 300 minors across different locations earlier this month, the McDonald’s company and a franchise holder in Florida were found at fault for not warning customers about the risk of hot food, according to ABC News.
Why is this important? The chicken nugget reportedly fell from a Happy Meal toy and caused a second degree burn on the little girl’s leg.
CNN reported that the complaint alleged that “the Chicken McNuggets inside of that Happy Meal were unreasonably and dangerously hot (in terms of temperature),” and caused the child’s “skin and flesh around her thighs to burn,” which left the child “disfigured and scarred.”
“This was an unfortunate incident, but we respectfully disagree with the verdict,” McDonald’s USA said in a statement on the case. “Our customers should continue to rely on McDonald’s to follow policies and procedures for serving Chicken McNuggets safely.”
Details to note: Newsweek reported that the Florida jury found the franchisee responsible in the case “for negligence and failure to warn the customer about the risk of hot food.”
The suit was filed in 2019 and jurors found “there was no inherent defect in putting McNuggets on the market and no breach of implied warranty.”
The jury further found the case to closely mirror the famous hot coffee lawsuit in 1990, which also involved McDonald’s, according to PBS.
What has been said? “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,” local owner-operator of McDonald’s, Brent Upchurch, said. “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.”