A 70-year-old Georgia woman has received a $3 million settlement from a Dunkin’ franchisee after she was severely burned by a spill from a cup of coffee at the chain.
The incident occurred on Feb. 18, 2021. As thewoman reached for coffee at the drive-through, the lid came off, spilling the drink on her, allegedly causing second- and third-degree burns to her thighs, groin, and abdomen.
According to her attorney at Morgan & Morgan, she had to get skin grafts to fix the damage and “had to re-learn how to walk due to the severity of her burns.” She has run up medical bills of $200,000 since the incident, the lawyers added.
“Her burns were so severe that she spent weeks in the burn unit at Grady Health and has had to entirely alter the way she lives her life.” said her attorney, Benjamin Welch, in a statement.
Golden Donuts, LLC, the franchisee that operates the Dunkin’ location, agreed to settle the charges. Dunkin’ did not immediately reply to a request for comment by Fortune.
The case is similar to 1994’s famous McDonald’s “hot coffee lawsuit” which saw a woman suffer third-degree burns after accidentally spilling coffee on herself, as she sat in the passenger seat of a parked car. That plaintiff, Stella Liebeck, was awarded nearly $3 million by a jury, before settling with the company for an unknown amount. The coffee in that suit was found to be between 180 and 190 degrees.
Despite that suit, people still suffer severe burns from served coffee with some regularity. Morgan & Morgan won a $100,000 verdict against Starbucks in 2017, after a mother of three suffered first- and second-degree burns on her midsection after the lid of her coffee came off without warning.
