In his 2009 pop-country song “American Ride,” Toby Keith sings the derisive lyric, “Spill a cup of coffee, make a million dollars.”
He’ll need to update that figure, made famous in 1994 by the “hot coffee lawsuit,” after an Atlanta woman reached a $3 million settlement with a Dunkin’ franchisee, her attorneys announced Tuesday.
She was the latest plaintiff to agree to a large payout with a fast-food chain over burn injuries. The woman, who was not publicly identified, said she suffered second- and third-degree burns on her thighs and groin after a hot cup of Dunkin’ coffee was dropped on her lap in 2021.
The multimillion-dollar settlement was announced more than two years after the woman was allegedly burned at a Dunkin’ location in Gwinnett County. Her burns were so severe that “she had to relearn how to walk,” said her attorney, Benjamin Welch. The woman, who was 70 when she was injured, had medical bills that exceeded $200,000 after a lengthy hospitalization, Welch said.
According to the woman’s attorneys, the coffee spill took place at a drive-thru on Nelson Brogdon Boulevard in Sugar Hill. A Dunkin’ employee handed the coffee to the woman in her car, but the lid was not secure, Welch said. It came off and spilled on the woman’s lap.
“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. Walking still causes her pain, she can’t go out in the sun, and she must apply creams and ointments to her burns several times a day,” Welch said.
The lawsuit alleges that the spill would not have happened if the Dunkin’ employee had properly secured the cup’s lid, Welch said. Dunkin’ franchisee Golden Donuts LLC, the defendant in the suit, ultimately agreed to settle out of court.
“One of the most famous lawsuits in American history centers around scalding coffee that caused severe burns,” said John Morgan, founder of Morgan & Morgan, the law firm that represented the Atlanta woman. “We hope this settlement sends a message to all restaurants and franchisees. This isn’t complicated: Train your employees properly and prioritize customer safety.”
Morgan referenced the 1994 case of Liebeck v. McDonald’s Restaurants. Stella Liebeck, who was 79 when she was injured, spilled a hot McDonald’s coffee on her lap and spent eight days in the hospital receiving skin grafts.
The case became well-known and widely referenced, including in Keith’s song, on an episode of “Seinfeld,” and as the subject of a 2011 HBO documentary, “Hot Coffee.” A later report by The New York Times found that as news of the case spread through the media, portrayals of it lost detail and context.
Liebeck was originally awarded nearly $3 million by a jury, but that amount was reduced to $640,000 by the trial judge, The American Lawyer magazine reported. She eventually settled for an undisclosed amount.
Representatives from Dunkin’ have not responded to an inquiry from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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