Olivia Caraballo in court (Image: YouTube)
A jury in Florida awarded $800,000 in damages to a young girl who was severely burned when a hot Chicken McNugget fell on her leg as her mother pulled out of the drive-thru of a McDonald’s.
The family of Olivia Caraballo, who was 4 at the time, sought $15 million in damages.
An initial $400,000 was given for the past four years since the burn incident while another $400,000 was allotted for the future. In May, a separate jury found that McDonald’s was liable for Caraballo’s injury.
Caraballo’s mother, Philana Holmes, told a press conference, “I’m actually just happy that they listened to Olivia’s voice and the jury was able to decide a fair judgment… I honestly had no expectations, so this is more than fair for me.”
Photos of the burn and sound clips of Caraballo’s screams were shown in court.
Holmes testified on July 18, that her daughter, now 8, calls the scar on her thigh her “nugget” and wants to have it removed.
Lawyers for McDonald’s stated that Caraballo was no longer in discomfort after her wound healed, which took around three weeks. They also argued that Holmes was the one who had a problem with the scar, not Caraballo, and that $156,000 should be sufficient to pay for all damages.
During the May ruling, UpChurch Foods, the franchise owner, said that the McDonald’s restaurant followed proper procedure when cooking and serving the Happy Meal.
Holmes testified that the restaurant did not warn her that the food may be hot, but McDonald’s countered that McNuggets need to be hot enough to prevent salmonella poisoning and that they can’t account for what happens with the food once it leaves the drive-thru. In Holmes’ car, the hot McNugget fell on Caraballo’s thigh and became trapped between her leg and the seat belt.
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This is not the first time McDonald’s has been in court for burning its customers. In 2018, a teenager was burned after being served hot water at an “unreasonably dangerous temperature.” There was also the infamous coffee lawsuit in the 1990s where Stella Liebeck, 81, suffered third-degree burns after hot coffee spilled onto her lap.
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