‘Exceptionally hot’ McDonald’s tea severely burns customer, Missouri lawsuit says
A woman has sued owners of a McDonald’s in Missouri, alleging she was served “exceptionally hot” tea that caused severe burns to her legs.
In the lawsuit filed July 21 in the Circuit Court of Taney County, Nicole Lind says she received her tea while in the drive-through of a McDonald’s in Branson on March 16, 2023.
Lind said she parked to eat her meal, and when she grabbed her beverage, the lid fell off and the drink’s contents spilled onto her right leg and hip, according to the lawsuit.
She received “severe burns,” as well as scars and an infection in her wounds, the lawsuit says.
Lind filed suit against 3 Ruprecht Sons, LLC, which operates the Branson restaurant. Andrew Ruprecht is among the owners and operators of the McDonald’s of Big MO business unit, a network of franchise owners in Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Iowa.
McClatchy News reached out to McDonald’s of Big MO on July 24 and did not receive an imediate response.
The McDonald’s customer said the franchise owners broke their duties when she received tea that was “too hot,” with a “defective” lid that was “improperly applied.”
“It was so exceptionally hot that it would cause burns and injury if it made contact with the skin,” according to the lawsuit. “It was so exceptionally hot that it was unreasonably dangerous during normal and expected use.”
She is requesting judgment the court deems “fair and reasonable.”
The lawsuit bears similarities to a landmark court case from 1994, in which a New Mexico woman had McDonald’s coffee near boiling spill on her, according to her attorney. She received skin grafts for third-degree burns.
Referred to as “the most famous lawsuit in the world and the most misunderstood lawsuit in the world,” the case ended with the woman being awarded $480,000 in punitive damages and $160,000 in compensatory damages.
In March, an 82-year-old retiree sued a McDonald’s in Mississippi after alleging he suffered second- and third-degree burns from hot coffee that spilled onto him, according to the Sun Herald.