Jury Rules That McDonald’s Is To Blame For McNugget That Left Child Severely Burned And ‘Disfigured’

Last month, as Forbes reports, McDonald’s was found liable for a “dangerously hot” chicken nugget. After touching it, one child, according to the lawsuit, suffered “second-degree burns.” As the outlet points out, this case is being compared to a similar and infamous one against the fast food giant that involved hot coffee nearly 20 years ago.

Philana Holmes drove her 4-year-old daughter Olivia to a Tamarac, Florida, McDonald’s location in 2019. The young girl was left “disfigured and scarred,” four years ago, according to law firm Fischer Redavid, after a chicken nugget fell onto her legs. She suffered second-degree burns. Here’s what we know:

McDonald's Liable After 200-Degree McNugget Burned 4-Year-Old Child, Jury Finds

A South Florida jury ruled "McDonald’s and franchise owner Upchurch Foods were liable for failing to warn about possible harm from the nuggets," according to WPLG and Forbes. However, Upchurch was found negligent for causing the burns, the publication writes, and not McDonald’s.

As for attorneys representing McDonald's, they argued that the nuggets (which Holmes’ lawyers said were over 200 degrees) were very hot to prevent customers from suffering salmonella poisoning, as reported by the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

When it comes to the future, a second trial will be held to calculate the damages owed to Holmes. Fischer Redavid expects this to occur later in 2023.

Holmes and her husband, Humberto Caraballo Estevez, both said that they dealt with "negative public sentiment" after some people began comparing their case to a 1994 lawsuit against McDonald’s.

As many may recall, at the time, a 79-year-old woman sued the chain after a coffee spilled onto her lap. This resulted in third-degree burns. She ultimately won $2.7 million in damages. In a statement, Fischer Redavid said, "This is not the infamous hot coffee case, this is Olivia’s case." They added, "She’s an adorable, innocent child who was severely burned through no fault of her own."

The 1994 lawsuit, the lawyers noted, did "set an important legal precedent" for Holmes’ case to succeed. They added that "safe food handling methods" is an important topic when thinking about this case, as well as chains that serve food at an "unreasonably high temperature."